A SMALL Scottish consultancy in renewable energy is going to advise on the first Western-financed wind farm to be built in China.

SgurrEnergy will provide technical advice on the development of the Balingmiao project on behalf of Honiton Energy, which is emerging as a leading alternative energy provider in China.

The project is the first wind farm in China to be funded by a Western developer and marks the beginning of Honiton's ambitious plans to develop 4000 megawatts (MW) of wind power over the next 15 years.

SgurrEnergy teams in Glasgow and Beijing will provide technical advice for the 50MW development, which will feature 40 x 1.25MW turbines built by Indian manufacturer Suzlon.

The harsh weather conditions at the site in Inner Mongolia mean tough challenges for engineers in developing turbines to withstand the conditions and provide the best power yield.

Steve McDonald, company founder and implementation director, said that SgurrEnergy's knowledge of the Asian energy marketplace, electricity grid infrastructure, local laws and construction helped smooth negotiations with overseas contractors.

He said: "The rising demand for energy in China, coupled with new legislation, is clearly setting the country on a sustainable development and renewable energy path, supporting the rapid expansion of the renewable energy market.

"Honiton is not subject to the same planning restrictions as we have in the UK and in China there are areas of land designated to build wind farms, so it's a huge project and essentially the development of state winds facilities."

He added: "We hope the work will demonstrate our ability to deliver such projects for local and international developers and give us greater kudos in future business development."

McDonald and co-founder Ian Irvine worked with Scottish Power's technology division before going out on their own to form SgurrEnergy five years ago.

The company has 50 employees at present, split between offices in Glasgow and Beijing, but will double that number to cope with the demands of the work on the Honiton development programme.

McDonald added: "We now have ambitious plans to grow our geographical footprint throughout the world by opening further offices in the US, Canada, India and Poland.

"The business is now worldwide and we plan to become the biggest renewable energy consultant in the world."

SgurrEnergy is not the only Scottish company to be involved in wind farms in China. Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) announced last week that it would be backing four new wind farms in the country as part of its carbon reduction programme.

SSE finalised the first of four agreements with GD Power Development, a subsidiary of China Guodian Corporation, one of China's major energy companies, to support the development of the wind farms in northeast China.

Each of the wind farms is expected to have a capacity of 50MW and will displace carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations in the region.

Another deal announced last week underlines the increasing importance of links with China to Scotland's businesss community. Weir Pumps, which only six weeks ago was bought by Jim McColl's Clyde Blowers company, has won a £19.5 million contract to supply two Chinese nuclear power stations. The contract is with China Nuclear Power Engineering.