(Yicai Global) July 21 -- BASF and Mingyang Group have formed a joint venture to build and run a wind farm off the coast of southern China, they said today. It is the first Chinese-German offshore wind energy project to encompass development, construction and operation.

Mingyang, a new energy firm headquartered in Zhongshan, has a 90 percent stake in the new company, Mingyang BASF New Energy Zhanjiang. Ludwigshafen-based BASF owns the rest.

The wind farm will have a total installed capacity of 500 megawatts and will be located off Zhanjiang in Guangdong province, where chemical giant BASF's latest Verbund site is based. The project will be a major supplier of clean electricity to the site.

The wind power industry will benefit from safer and more cost-effective technologies by leveraging BASF’s advanced materials and Mingyang’s strong competence in renewable energy development, the German company said in its statement.

At EUR10 billion (USD11.1 billion), the Zhanjiang Verbund represents BASF’s largest single investment and will be run solely by BASF. It is the firm’s third-largest Verbund after ones in Ludwigshafen, Germany and Antwerp, Belgium.

Mingyang is engaged in wind and solar power, energy storage, hydrogen energy and the smart electric field and has six research and development centers around the world and over 2,000 patents and software copyrights. It ranked first for offshore wind power innovation last year and was 15th among new energy firms.

Ming Yang Smart Energy Group, one of its units, went public in Shanghai and London, while another, Guangdong Mingyang Electric, is listed in Shenzhen.

Editor: Tom Litting