ALECOMM

The two firms signed a memorandum of understanding that they said was a step toward building a long-term strategic partnership, although an Equinor spokesman said it was to soon to outline specifics about what that would involve.

“Next we will look at what projects we can develop together in China or Europe,” the spokesman for the Norwegian firm said.

China has been one of the world’s biggest investors in renewable energy, such as solar and wind power. It is set to become the world’s largest offshore wind power market by 2030, CPIH and Equinor said in their statement.

CPIH President Jun Tian said in the statement that his firm wanted to develop “a sustainable energy business together with our partner in both domestic and overseas markets.”

Equinor, the state-controlled oil and gas producer that has been seeking to expand its offshore wind energy business, has secured deals to erect turbines off the U.S. and British coasts.

Equinor and London-listed SSE won a contract last week to build a 3.6 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind park at Dogger Bank in Britain’s North Sea that will involve investment of 9 billion pounds ($11.20 billion) from 2020 to 2026.

Partners in the Dogger Bank project planned to invite other investors but Equinor’s agreement with CPIH was not related to those efforts, the spokesman for the Norwegian firm said.

Equinor, which aims to boost spending on renewables to 15%-20% of its total capital expenditure by the 2030, said on Friday it had offshore wind plans for about 7.4 GW in capacity, including projects in Poland, the United States and South Korea.

CPIH is a subsidiary of State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC), one of China’s top five power producers.