Seatrade Maritime is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

DSME spends $49.5m on US wind turbine maker

DSME spends $49.5m on US wind turbine maker

Seoul: South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has acquired US wind turbine maker DeWind for $49.5m, in a deal designed to give the company access to the booming global market for renewable technologies and getting in on Korean president Lee Myung-bak's so called 'Green New Deal' which has seen many other shipyards pile into the renewable energy sector.

DSME now plans to invest a further $70m to develop new wind power turbines and build additional US manufacturing plants for its new subsidiary.

The South Korean company has set a goal of being the world's third largest wind power equipment maker by 2020, with a target of achieving 15 per cent of global market share.

A 2008 agreement between DeWind and US wind farm developer Higher Perpetual Energy to build four wind farms in Texas will likely proceed as planned, as Daewoo Shipbuilding has indicated that it will invest in a 420-turbine project in the state.

DeWind, which has operations in the US and Germany, is currently a subsidiary of Californian electrical transmission systems maker Composite Technology Corp. It has supplied 710 wind turbines to the US, China and countries in Europe and South America.

The acquisition mirrors the recent purchase of Netherlands-based wind turbine maker Harakosan Europe by South Korean shipmaker STX Group for $19m. [13/08/09]