By Colin Houghton

While on an economic trade mission to China, US Governor for Illinois, Pat Quinn (centre, above), visited Beijing and announced plans for Goldwind to build a major wind farm in Shady Oaks, Lee County, Illinois, US. Work will begin later this year.

Goldwind USA Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co, LTD, based in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China. Goldwind USA established its headquarters in Chicago in 2010 to oversee operations in North and South America.
The Shady Oaks wind farm project, will provide 106.5 megawatts (MW) of power, and create more than 100 construction and a dozen permanent maintenance jobs in Illinois. The 71 permanent magnet direct drive 1.5MW Goldwind turbines will be manufactured in China, while some other components, such as the bearings for the turbines, will be manufactured by a US company in Ohio. Once operational, the project will provide enough energy to power 30,000 homes on the community.  The blades will be manufactured at LM Windpower’s facility in Grand Forks, South Dakota, a move that will help that company save 60-80 jobs which were slated to be laid off.

The cost of the project is estimated to be 200m$ and the energy produced will be sold to Commonwealth Edison under a 20 year power purchase agreement. Commonwealth Edison (commonly known as ComEd) is the largest electric utility in Illinois, serving the Chicago and Northern Illinois area.
“We intend to begin construction of the project in 2011,” Tim Rosenzweig, chief executive of Goldwind USA Inc., said in a recent interview. “We have a number of pending customers and expect to have significant orders in 2011.”
The project will be the largest one in the United States for Goldwind, who are China’s second-largest wind turbine producer (according to new capacity sold). Shady Oaks will be the second U.S. wind farm built using Goldwind’s turbines: The 4.5-megawatt Uilk Wind project in Minnesota went into operations in January this year. This new deal emphasises the ability of Chinese renewable-energy companies to make inroads into the U.S., despite some criticism in the U.S. that Chinese companies have unfairly benefited from government subsidies. However the fact that some components will be manufactured in the US may go some way to placate that criticism.

State of Illinois, USA.