Suntech Power Holdings Co, China’s largest solar panel maker, and Peak International Trade (Tianjin) Co, have won a USD81 million contract to provide portable solar power systems to United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions. The deal is the largest single UN contract to have been won by Chinese companies. Solar products procured by the UN are portable solar-power systems, which will be delivered to the International Peacekeeping Force and its subordinate entities globally. The contract may be extended by two years, or even longer, if the operation is successful in the coming three years. “It is currently a framework agreement because the final purchasing list has not been decided upon yet. Suntech will provide products in accordance with the UN’s detailed requirements,” Zhang Jianmin, Press Officer with Suntech, told China Daily. Suntech will primarily provide systems integration, including product delivery, installation and after-sales services. Suntech is not only a product manufacturer, but is also now a systems integrator. In the future, Suntech will probably carry out large-scale photo-voltaic projects abroad, such as 700 megawatt (MW) power plants, Zhang added. Shi Zhengrong, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Suntech, said that cooperation with Peak International Trade Co enabled Suntech to compete for the UN contract. Shi Dinghuan, Chairman of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society, said that the UN contract is a step towards global competition for China’s green-energy companies and will be followed by more opportunities. Statistics show that China’s share in UN procurement is disproportionately low and is ranked 23rd among all the bidding countries.

Geothermal power is expected to provide 1.7% of China’s total energy in 2015, Guan Fengjun, Director of the Ministry of Land and Resources’ Department of Geological Environment, said. Using geothermal power for heating and generating electricity is a significant part of China’s low-carbon development strategy, he added. By 2015, this green-energy source can replace 68.8 million tons of coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 180 million tons. China built its first geothermal power station in Yangbajain in Tibet in 1977. It has generated 2.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to date. This year, China will explore and evaluate shallow-lying geothermal energy in 29 provincial capital cities across the country, including Shijiazhuang, Shenyang and Zhengzhou, according to Wang Xuelong, Deputy Director of the China Geological Survey. The central government will allocate CNY164 million for the investigation, Wang said.

The German photovoltaics specialist IBC Solar, the world’s biggest solutions provider for solar-generated power by sales revenue and turnover, made its entry in the Chinese market by establishing an office in Beijing. “Although China has been a leading country in the manufacturing of solar cells and panels for power generation in the world, the domestic usage of solar power has just started,” said Udo Moehrstedt, Founder and CEO of IBC Solar. “We hope to provide our leading products and services to China, a country that generally relies on coal resources for traditional thermal power generation but that now attaches great importance to alternative energy. The energy from sunlight each hour on Earth equals the total power we use around the world in a year,” said Moehrstedt. The Chinese government said in its 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) that it aims to increase the nation’s current solar-energy generation capacity from 5 gigawatt to at least 10 GW in the next five years. According to IBC, China has been a major exporter of solar panels and modules, with 50% going to Germany. IBC Solar (China) Co recently signed a first agreement with China’s Building Integrated Photovoltaics Committee to provide consultancy and training.

Gamesa Corp Tecnologica will join hands with China Longyuan Power Group Corp to co-develop international wind projects, primarily in the United States, Europe and Latin America. Under the agreement ― the first ever signed by Chinese and Spanish companies in the industry ― Gamesa and Longyuan, the world’s third-largest wind power operator by market share, will research suitable sites for the joint development of wind farms, including some that Gamesa already has in its wind farm project portfolio and new ventures in strategic countries. The Spanish company has a wind farm portfolio totaling more than 22,600 megawatt (MW) at varying stages of development in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, giving its Chinese partner access to overseas markets that it otherwise might take longer to enter. “We will offer our knowhow for finding potential wind farm sites and project management of joint ventures in the world’s most promising wind markets,” Gamesa Chairman and CEO Jorge Calvet said. The company also signed an agreement with Longyuan to jointly develop 200 MW of wind farms in China by 2015. Meanwhile, Gamesa signed Memoranda of Understanding with three Chinese power companies ― Longyuan, China Resources Power Holdings Co and China Datang Corp Renewable Power Co ― which is likely to lead to supply contracts of 900 MW in wind turbine capacity in the coming months. “The percentage of wind power in the energy portfolio will be increased,” Calvet said, adding that Gamesa has heard more questions about the feasibility of wind farm development since the nuclear accident in Japan. Last month, the Spanish grid operator Red Electrica de Espana signed a general cooperative agreement with State Grid Corp of China, under which State Grid will work closely with the Spanish company in developing grid-access technologies for renewable energies.

Private equity firm Nature Elements Capital – founded by Chan Ka-keung, a former renewable energy head of Hong Kong utility CLP Holdings – signed a deal in Chongqing to set up a CNY250 million fund to invest in clean energy and technology. Beijing-based Nature Elements has garnered support from the Chongqing government and the central government, which together will contribute the bulk of the fund, Chan told the South China Morning Post. “The fund’s size is not huge, so it was quicker to set up,” he said. “We just want to set the fund up so that we can start investing.” In October 2009, he said Nature Elements was in talks to set up a CNY500 million fund. The fund will invest in wind, solar, hydro and biomass energy generating technology and equipment providers, along with energy storage and conservation technology developers. Besides the yuan fund, Nature Elements aims to raise USD350 million by the middle of next year from a separate U.S. dollar clean energy fund to be invested mainly in China, Chan said.