CGN buys into Swedish power project

China's major nuclear power operator, China General Nuclear Power Corp, has acquired a 75 percent stake in a wind power project in Sweden, according to a statement from CGN on Tuesday night.

CGN Europe Energy signed an agreement with Australian energy company Macquarie Group and US-based General Electric Co to purchase the majority stake in Sweden's North Pole wind power project, the largest onshore wind farm in Europe.

The North Pole project, the largest single-site onshore wind installation in Europe, is expected to have 179 wind turbines that will deliver 650 megawatts of power and provide power for 400,000 families.

"The 650 MW wind farm acquisition by CGN is further evidence Chinese electric power companies will continue to increasingly expand overseas and we think there will be more deals to come in coming quarters," said Joseph Jacobelli, a senior analyst of Asian utilities at Bloomberg.

"We continue to believe that the motivation behind the investments is multi-faceted," he said.

"The companies want to steadily diversify their earnings stream and not be solely reliant from income within China, acquire know-how from abroad and, if possible, export their own technologies."

This has been made possible by the Chinese government's strong support of such investments as part of its push to raise the nation's investments abroad since the mid-2000s, said Jacobelli.

The CGN statement did not disclose further details about the stake transfers, the amount of money involved or future plans for the project, which is still under construction.

The project is expected to start operation at the end of 2019.

Lu Wei, president of CGN Europe Energy, said CGN's entry to the European clean energy market is in accordance with the company's strategic development.

The company now has wind farm and solar power assets in the UK, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands after four years of development, and has become the sixth-largest clean energy operator in France and also the energy company with the greatest investment in Ireland, it said.