(Yicai Global) Oct. 21 -- Danish wind power equipment giant Vestas Wind Systems is preparing to buy into Chinese carbon fiber products maker Guangwei Composites' upcoming CNY2 billion (USD282.9 million) plant in gusty Inner Mongolia, marking a closer collaboration between the two firms.

The Aarhus-based firm plans to buy a 10 percent share in the first phase of the project for up to CNY45 million (USD6.4 million), Guangwei said today. This would be a major step up for Vestas to stakeholder from preferred supplier.

The two companies already have a close relationship. Last year, Vestas signed up Guangwei as a global supplier. As part of the deal, Guangwei agreed to construct a factory in Mexico to make wind turbine blades, and Vestas committed to providing stable and continuous orders to the Mexican plant.

Guangwei said in July that it was building a new factory with a projected output of 10,000 tons of carbon fiber in an industrial park near Baotou city with the Danish firm as a major client.

Guangwei would support Vestas in bidding to supply Baotou with power equipment and to win preferential sales deals to ensure market expansion of the new factory's products, the Weihai, Shandong province-based firm said that month.

Meanwhile, Vestas will supply the factory layout, production technology and product distribution in the first phase, under the original plan. Vestas is also likely to invest in the second and third phases, but the details will be decided at a later stage, Guangwei said.

Construction of the Baotou factory will be in three phases. The first, costing around CNY500 million (USD70.9 million), will build the plant and its supporting facilities with an annual production capacity of 2,000 tons of carbon fiber. It is expected to start operation in two to three years. The second and third phases will be built according to market demand, eventually reaching the maximum target quota.