BP quits wind farm project with China's Goldwind

SHANGHAI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - BP Alternative Energy, a unit of oil group BP Plc (BP.L), has pulled out of a partnership in a wind farm project with a subsidiary of Goldwind Science & Technology Co (002202.SZ), Goldwind said on Thursday.

Goldwind, China's largest maker of wind turbines, said BP had decided to suspend its wind power business in Asia, according to a statement posted on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

BP Alternative Energy and Beijing Tianrun New Energy Investment Co, a subsidiary of Goldwind, signed a framework agreement in January to develop wind farms with planned total capacity of 148.5 megawatts (MW) in Inner Mongolia, China's top base for wind power.

A Goldwind statement from January said BP would buy a 49 percent stake in the joint venture.

China ranked as the world's fifth-largest for installed wind capacity in 2007, accounting for about 6 percent of the total 94 gigawatts (GW), according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

Goldwind said the construction of the wind farm was expected to be completed in February 2009, and it was seeking new partners.

BP Alternative Energy combines BP's interests in low and zero-carbon power generation, including wind, solar and hydrogen power. (Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)