https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61433I20100205
(Reuters) -Chinese wind and solar companies told a renewable energy conference onThursday they were looking abroad for burgeoning markets in renewableenergy.
Chinese renewable energycompanies have been among the fastest growing in the world as subsidiesin their home market, Europe and the United States and generous loansfrom Beijing have spurred a boom in manufacturing of the clean powersystems.
Still, as countries suchas Germany pare back incentives and the United States struggles withhigh unemployment figures, some companies and politicians in thosecountries are calling for more restrictions to protect their domesticindustries.
Typically, China hastrailed European and U.S. companies in entering nascent industries, butthat has changed with the growing solar sector, said Hunter Jiang,president of GCL Solar Energy. "Today we are the leader," he said.
Jiangestimated that Chinese solar producers held a little less than half theglobal production capacity, but he told the RETECH renewable energyconference that figure was likely to rise to between 60 to 70 percent.
GCLis one of the largest makers of polysilicon, the material that is usedin majority of solar panels to turn sunlight into electricity. Itproduces about 18,000 metric tons of the material, and that will growto 21,000 metric tons this year. Its silicon wafer production capacitywill reach 2 gigawatts.
"We are looking for a lot of products to go to Canada, the United States and Europe," he told the conference.
ChinaGuangdong Nuclear Wind Power Co, which owns nuclear power plants andwind farms in China, hopes to build 3,000 megawatts of wind power inNorth America, Australia and Europe by 2020.
"Webelieve the United States is a very attractive market for renewableenergy and are actively exploring opportunities in working with U.S.partners," Chairman Chen Sui said.
XinjiangGoldwind Science & Technology Company, which has grown into one ofthe largest wind turbine makers in the world, has built a 4.5 megawattpilot project in the U.S. state of Minnesota to test its turbines incold weather.
It expects to open an office in Chicago as it grows, Li Chunhua, the company's director of international business said.
"We have plans to build a local manufacturing plant in the U.S.," he said.
(Editing by Derek Caney)