2 Power Plays: China and Wind Farms

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I've got two notable events for your Foolish consideration today, each connected to one of our nation's independent power producers.

Over the weekend, AES (NYSE: AES) said it would sell 125.5 million new shares to China Investment Corp. (CIC), raising $1.58 billion. According to the SWF Institute, CIC is the world's fifth-largest sovereign wealth fund, with nearly $300 billion in assets under management. The transaction would give the investment fund a 15% stake in AES. Simultaneously, AES said it signed a letter of intent to sell 35% of its wind generation business to CIC for $571 million.

AES is a global power player, with 132 generation facilities spanning the globe. The company is keen on expansion, and this $2.2 billion cash infusion would kick the program into high gear. This is a far different deal than the one CIC cut with debt-laden Teck Resources (NYSE: TCK) over the summer. It's also far less likely to get the green light from the powers that be.

The U.S. has never really gone for selling off our infrastructure to the Chinese. We far prefer to peddle less tangible things, like synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). When CNOOC Ltd. (NYSE: CEO) tried to buy Unocal back in 2004, the move really didn't go over well with Congress, and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) was brought in to scupper that deal.

China has since taken a different tack in North America, taking partial stakes in companies like Blackstone and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) instead of swallowing them whole. As for hard assets, PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) ponied up $1.7 billion for an oil sands joint venture, and more recently, CNOOC dipped a toe into the deepwater Gulf of Mexico without making any waves.

AES says it expects the stock purchase to be approved by various authorities during the first half of 2010. It could happen, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

In another wind-related deal, NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) bought Bluewater Wind yesterday. The New Jersey-based company, which focuses on offshore projects, is advancing several gigawatts' worth of projects, like the 200MW Delmarva Power wind farm offshore Delaware.

NRG already made a forward-looking move in the solar space when it teamed up with eSolar earlier this year. This push into offshore wind marks an interesting complement to the company's existing capacities in onshore wind development, which NRG gained through its acquisition of Padoma Wind back in 2006.