Even more significant to Welwind shareholders is China’s rapid emergence as the next superpower globally. Last year China doubled its wind energy capacity, four straight years in a row, adding 6,300 MW of new power for a total capacity of 12,210 MW. Over one third of the world’s new wind capacity was installed by Asia, with China accounting for 73% of the total power. China has currently reached its 2010 target for reaching 5,000 MW of wind power and anticipates reaching its 2020 goal of 30,000 MW years early.

Li Junfeng, Secretary General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association, stated that newly installed capacity is expected to double again, which will be one third or more of the world’s total new install capacity for the year.

China’s rapid growth in the wind energy industry has prompted a rapidly increasing domestic wind industry and growing investment by overseas companies. Denmark’s Vestas, the world’s largest turbine maker, will open its fifth factory in China this year. The company has received orders for an additional 200 MW’s worth of turbines at the end of 2008. GE also operates a factory in China and in January announced a joint venture with Chinese company A-Power Energy Generation to make turbine gearboxes. In a separate deal with A-Power, GE will supply the company with 900 turbine gearboxes starting next year.

Installed global wind capacity now stands at 120.8 gigawatts with the 2008 turbine market worth $47.5 billion, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

“We feel that the numbers globally, but more so in China, speak for themselves. We are encouraged by market growth even with the global economic and financial downturn. With the US becoming the new global superpower in wind energy, Welwind feels that its decision to pull some of its focus from China to the US market will prove to be a prudent decision for the company and its investors in 2009,” says Larry McNabb, President of Welwind Energy International Corp.

Latest wind plant announced in Pueblo, Colorado to build wind towers while a third plant under construction in Brighton for blades and one for nacelles is also being planned outside Denver.

Vestas expands its Colorado wind manufacturing base

3 February 2009 — PCL Construction Services Inc. won a contract to build a 600,000 wind tower manufacturing plant for Vestas in Pueblo, Colo. The new facility is slated to open later this year. Vestas opened its first North American facility earlier this year in Windsor, Colo.

The Pueblo project is one of four Colorado production facilities and represents a $3 million capital investment by Vestas. Vestas plans two other Colorado facilities to produce blades and nacelle assemblies.

FPL Group (FPL), called the Wal Mart of Wind by Barron’s and the largest producer of wind and solar energy in the US, reported earnings this morning that topped analyst estimates at .90/share and represents 25% growth over the year ago quarter on revenue growth of 9%.  All in all, a very good quarter in a tough environment. The company remains comfortable with expectations for 2009 and 2010 with EPS guidance of $4.05 – $4.25 for 09 and $4.50 – $4.90 for 2010.

Growth was fueled by their NextEra Energy Resources subsidiary, the alternative energy arm of the company.  NER profits increased to .55/share in the quarter vs .34/share in the year ago quarter, a 62% profit increase.  Growth was driven by new assets, primarily wind projects and the Point Beach nuclear power plant, and very strong performance by existing assets, notably those in the New England and Texas regions.

In 2008, NER added about 1300 MW of wind capacity in North America with new projects in Iowa, North Dakota and Texas as well as its first acquisition of wind assets in Canada.  The company expects to add another 1100 MW of wind capacity this year and believes its goal of adding 7000 to 9000 MW of capacity by 2012 is still realistic

Why must China go wind energy???? Answer:: if they dont go wind, coal will eventually kill all their citizens over time.

In a marked shift in policy, the Chinese government has finally admitted to the connection between disease and pollution

According to a Chinese health official, a baby is born with defects every 30 seconds due to the poor environmental conditions in their country.

“The number of newborns with birth defects is constantly increasing in both urban and rural areas,” Jiang Fan, vice-minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) said at a conference in Beijing recently. “And the rather alarming increase has forced us to kick off a high-level prevention plan.”

Most of the pollution problem is due to the massive amounts of coal waste in certain zones in China.

“The problem of birth defects is related to environmental pollution, especially in eight main coal zones,” said An Huanxiao, the director of Shanxi provincial family planning agency.

A government study released in 2007 revealed that birth defects had increased by roughly 40 percent between 2001 and 2006. The study did not reveal the cause of the spike.

“Our research shows that chemical waste pollution has been the main factor to influence the health of pregnant women and their babies in some areas,” said Hu Yali, a professor at the Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University.

Admitting that the terrible environmental conditions are in fact behind the number of birth defects is a major shift in position for a government that is known to have harassed environmental activists that would publicize the connection between pollution and disease.

“The statement from the National Population and Family Planning Commission once again proved that coal burning is not only a climate killer, but one of the major health hazards in China,” Greenpeace China said in a statement.

China’s coal-rich Shanxi province, a center of noxious emissions from large-scale chemical industries, has recorded the highest rate of birth defects, according to the China Daily.

Activists want the government to take stiff measures to improve the current conditions.

“The government must take measures to prevent birth defects,” Li Bin, minister of the NPFPC said.

China currently produces two-thirds of its energy from coal-fired plants, and is in the process of constructing more coal plants at a rapid rate.

The numbers are in, and as expected 2008 set a record year for the worldwide wind industry as new wind farms generating a total of 27,000 megawatts of greenhouse gas-free electricity came online, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

The quick-click headline was that the United States overtook the world’s green superpower, Germany, by installing 8,358 megawatts in 2008  – a 50% jump from the previous year and enough wind energy to power two million American homes. But the big story this year will be China’s rapid emergence as the next global wind power.

China last year doubled its wind energy capacity – for the fourth straight year – adding 6,300 megawatts of new electricity generation for a  total capacity of 12,210 megawatts.  A third of the world’s new wind capacity last year was installed in Asia, with China  accounting for 73% of that power. China reached its 2010 target of generating 5,000 megawatts of wind-powered electricity in 2007 and is expected to hit its 2030 goal of 30,000 megawatts years early.

“In 2009, new installed capacity is expected to nearly double again, which will be one third or more of the world’s total new installed capacity for the year,” Li Junfeng, Secretary General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association, said in a statement.

Of course, 30,000 megawatts of wind is but a flicker in a country with more than 300,000 megawatts of coal-fired energy online but it’s huge by world standards and has spawned both a burgeoning domestic wind industry and growing investment by overseas companies. Denmark’s Vestas, the world’s largest turbine maker,  will open its fifth factory in China this year and it received orders for another 200 megawatts’ worth of turbines at the end of 2008. General Electric (GE), one of only two U.S. turbine makers, also operates a factory in China and in January the company announced a joint venture with China’s A-Power Energy Generation to make turbine gearboxes. In a separate deal with A-Power, GE will supply the company with 900 turbine gearboxes starting next year.

As the financial crisis slows growth in the U.S. and Europe, India is another potential wind power. It ended 2008 with 9,645 megawatts of wind energy and added more capacity that year – 1,800 megawatts – than former world leaders Germany and Spain. Indian turbine maker Suzlon also has been moving onto European turf, relocating its international headquarters to Denmark and acquiring German turbine manufacturer REPower.

Installed global wind capacity now stands at 120.8 gigawatts with the 2008 turbine market worth $47.5 billion, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

Vestas is cautiously optomistic about the US wind energy plans and growth.  Vestas is building five new plants in Colorado and has picked Portland , Oregon as world HQ.

Ditlev Engel, CEO of the Danish wind-turbine maker Vestas, was likewise cautiously optimistic. The United States wind-energy market, already the largest in the world, may be poised to get bigger with the prospect of more mandates and incentives for alternative energy. Vestas is opening plants in Colorado and plans to boost employment in the United States from 1,300 today to 4,000 by the end of 2010. “I could bring a lot of sub-suppliers from Europe to China to support our investments there

I want to take this opportunity to applaud APWR management for selecting a new PR /Investor firm for doing basically what my blog has been begging for a long time…….transparency and an informed investor base which will bring long term shareholders to the front of investing into one of the main cogs in the growing, expanding China Wind Market!! Thank you for listening and thank you for making changes.  Lets hope the new firm can answer investor questions!

“We are delighted to develop our new communication program with Grayling, which was selected after our careful review of several candidates. Their strong track record in the energy industry, keen understanding of China’s industrial market, and proven ability to enhance shareholder value for their clients were the key reasons we want them to lead our investor relations efforts,” said Mr. Jinxiang Lu, A-Power’s Chairman and CEO. “Together with Grayling, we will improve our transparency, articulate our solid asset base, our dominant position as China’s largest distributed power generation system provider, and our strong foothold in China’s nascent wind power market through our manufacturing business based on technology licensed from our European partners. We firmly believe A-Power offers exciting growth potential and a sound business model in one of the world’s most active energy markets.”

The House-passed bill and the Senate plan would offer $13 billion over 10 years to extend a production tax credit through 2012 — the credits currently expire each year — and provide tax breaks for investments in renewable energy. The House version also includes a grant program that covers 30 percent of the upfront costs of wind energy investments.

The Senate version includes the tax breaks but does not offer the grant program, which would allow wind and solar industries to convert tax credits into grants from the Energy Department.

Wind power advocates say the grant program is needed because tax credits have been hampered by the recession. The projects require large upfront financing and have traditionally attracted investors who use the credits to offset tax liabilities. But few of these investors are profitable now.

Clipper Windpower announced about 90 layoffs last month, mainly at a manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and several wind-related manufacturers have announced similar cuts.

Several Midwest states are hoping to increase their stake in wind energy, pointing to the potential for rural development. Wetstone’s organization estimates that North Dakota has nation’s largest wind energy potential, followed by Texas, Kansas and South Dakota.

Proponents in Congress said the extension of the production tax credit would help. Wind farm developers would see a tax credit for every kilowatt-hour of electricity they produce extended through the end of 2012.

In Texas, state regulators have picked several developers to build nearly $5 billion in high-voltage electricity lines stretching from the growing wind farms of West Texas to the state’s largest cities. When completed in the next four to five years, the Texas lines should be able to carry 18,500 megawatts, enough electricity for 14 million to 18 million typical homes.

Vestas (VWDRY.pk) announces earnings on Feb 11th and with the recent PR announcements about landing its 8th major Chinese wind contract, is Vestas worth buying given the world economic problems???   Lets look at what Vestas has done in past four years………growing revenues, growing net income, growing margins, and expanding in over 60 countries installing wind turbines almost as fast as they can build and assemble them.   Vestas announced at Davos that their capacity is now being underutilized by 15% given the world economic crisis and slowing orders and demand slowing.  Vestas ADR’s use to sell for $48 this summer when oil was $140 per barrel.   Given that Vestas produces profits and then reinvests its profits into expanding markets (ie, CHINA 350 Million in 3 separate wind turbine plants INSIDE CHINA) and then takes existing market share from the established providers.   Vestas in 2010 will be making a 3.0 MW wind turbine every single hour 24/7/365 and will take more market share from 2nd place GE.  Yes, Vestas imho is a strong buy at these price points of $16 per share…….Feb 11th will test the price given that overall markets will probably drop short term in next two weeks before USA employs the bad bank system to try and turn the USA economy around.  Vestas imho is a strong buy anything close to $16 per share for the LONG TERM and I mean more than 3 years time frame!! 

Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systesm (VWS.CO), one of the world’s top producers of wind turbines, plans to invest $350 million in its China-based subsidiary in order to meet growing demand for wind power in the country, according to reports. 

Since the new year, Vesta China has received several orders for wind turbines, including one from China Guangdong Nuclear Wind Power for a total of 116 wind turbines. Industry Week reported that order was the eigth made by the company, for a total of 500 megawatts (MW) worth of wind turbines.

Vestas also reported sales of 100 MW of turbines for two other projects in China. The developers of those projects were not disclosed.

“As of June 30 2008, Vestas had delivered more than 1,000 turbines to China and we continue to have high expectations for the growing Chinese market,” Lars Andersen, who heads up Vestas’s China division, said in the statement.

Vestas China is located in Tianjin’s Binhai District, a hub for wind power companies.

China’s wind power manufacturing capacity is about 8 gigawatts (GW) and is expected to reach 12 GW by 2010.

Article Below was taken from Vestas PR story::

Engel said promises by Gordon Brown to creates thousands of new jobs in Britain and China’s intention to pump $70bn on electricity grid connections also gave him confidence for the future.

Vestas already employs 20,000 people, around double the figure four years ago.

The Global Wind Energy Council estimates there are now 400,000 people worldwide employed in the sector.

It told a World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi that this figure could grow to 1 billion by the end of the decade.

But there were warnings this week from Wall Street with financial analysts saying both wind and solar firms were in for a rough ride.

“We believe that the most important theme in 2009 within the alternative energy space will be a move from severe undersupply to one of at least a more balanced market and potentially serious oversupply,” said Goldman Sachs analyst Jason Channell in a note to investors.