Chinese wind-tower manufacturers pledged to actively challenge a U.S. investigation that could lead to crippling import duties on more than USD100 million worth of wind energy towers from China and Vietnam. The items covered by the investigation are the steel towers that support the engines and rotor blades used in wind turbines with electrical power-generation capacities in excess of 100 kilowatts. The U.S. Commerce Department is already investigating charges that Chinese solar panel makers engage in unfair trade practices. The Wind Tower Trade Coalition (WTTC), a group of U.S. wind-tower manufacturers, filed the complaints with the U.S. Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission (ITC), saying that companies from the two countries are dumping wind towers at prices lower than the U.S. market cost. The U.S. Commerce Department said China is alleged to have undercut U.S. wind-tower prices by 214% and Vietnam by 141% to 143%. “We are hiring lawyers to challenge the allegations,” said Wang Debao, Deputy Director at Chengxi Shipyard Co, whose wind tower business accounts for almost 10% of its annual revenue, which exceeded USD1 billion last year. Two other Chinese wind tower makers, Titan Wind Energy (Suzhou) Co and Shanghai Taisheng Wind Power Equipment Co, also expressed concern. Shi Pengfei, Vice President of the Chinese Wind Energy Association, said that Chinese companies could tap the growing domestic market even if the U.S. stops imports of Chinese wind towers. Wind tower manufacturing doesn’t require a large amount of technology, so Chinese companies have cost advantages because of the lower labor costs in China, said Li Shengmao, Senior Industrial Researcher at the CIC Industry Research Center.

China may double its installations of solar panels this year, absorbing excess production that depressed prices and margins in 2011. The CEO of Suntech Power Holdings, Shi Zhengrong, estimated the nation may add 4 GW or more of panels, and Trina Solar CEO Gao Jifan expects 5 GW. The cost of solar panels fell 47% last year as Chinese manufacturers led by Suntech boosted production, winning market share from Western rivals such as Q-Cells and First Solar. With Beijing pushing to consolidate the industry, the remarks from Shi and Gao suggest rising demand may support the biggest panel manufacturers. Those forecasts are more optimistic than the projections of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which expects Chinese installations of 3 GW this year and world demand from 25.5 GW to 32.8 GW. Trina expects global demand of between 30 GW and 35 GW. China could surpass Germany as the world’s largest solar market, said Aaron Chew, Analyst with Maxim Group in New York.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the state-owned parent of listed dominant offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC, has agreed to invest USD300 million in a Tianjin-based joint venture with Spanish solar-panel maker Isofoton. The venture will see CNOOC gain a technology partner to help its expansion in the renewable energy sector, while allowing Isofoton to enlarge sales in China, one of the world’s fastest growing solar-energy markets, amid a slowdown in the European market due to government subsidy cuts. Isofoton said it has technology that can convert close to 40% of energy from sunlight into electricity, around double that of conventional solar panels that are in wide use around the world. The joint venture will develop solar power plants with a total generating capacity of 150 MW in China and abroad. Ma Fenglei, Beijing-based Analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said as solar panel prices have dropped sharply in recent years, Isofoton’s expansion into more lucrative solar power station development will offset low profits in its panel components manufacturing operation. China’s solar power panel installation surged more than six-fold to 2.9 GW last year, and became the largest market in Asia Pacific with a 48% share, according to industry consultancy Solarbuzz. CNOOC set up its renewable energy investment unit in 2007. It has wind power projects in Inner Mongolia, Hainan and Gansu, as well as biodiesel projects in Hainan and Jiangsu. It is also developing projects to extract natural gas from coal.

Sunshine Oilsands, a developer of oil-sands energy projects in Canada backed by two Chinese financial institutions, is aiming to raise up to USD700 million from a listing this month in Hong Kong. It plans to raise USD600 million, but if demand exceeds the shares on offer, it may raise another USD100 million with 15% more shares. The share price will be set on February 14 and the stock will be listed a week after that. Bank of China International, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are joint sponsors and global coordinators of the transaction. Sunshine raised USD230 million last March by selling shares to China Life Insurance (Overseas), the Hong Kong arm of state-owned China Life Insurance (Group); Bank of China Group Investment, the Hong Kong investment management unit of Bank of China; and the Cross-Strait Common Development Fund. Sunshine was set up five years ago. It owns 464,531 hectares of oil-sands leases, or 7% of the total oil-sands leases granted in the Athabasca region of northern Alberta. Based on an evaluation two months ago, it is estimated to have 419 million barrels of proved and probable reserves. If 3.1 billion barrels of contingent resources – projects not currently commercially or technically viable – are included, the reserves and estimated resources total 3.52 billion barrels. Production is projected to rise from 1,800 barrels a day this year to 200,000 barrels a day in 2024.

China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) plans to expand its business in the wind-power industry, Senior Executive Sun Bo said. Currently, the company has four wind farms in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Jiangsu and Chongqing. Sales revenue from wind-power components and whole-set equipment jumped to CNY7.8 billion in 2011 from CNY6 billion in the previous year. It accounted for “a small percentage” of its total 2011 revenue, the company said. Yang Huanzhi, Vice Director of the Administration Department, said the company’s goal is to become one of China’s top three manufacturers of wind power equipment by production capacity during the next few years. Analysts have praised the company for its technological advantages in core-component manufacturing. However, they said it still faces challenges as it seeks to expand further in the wind-power industry. CSIC might have to triple its production capacity to become one of the nation’s top three manufacturers. According to a development blueprint by the State Grid Corp, China’s biggest electric-power transmission company, China’s wind-power capacity is expected to jump from 45 GW in 2010 to 90 GW in 2015.