Is China Huaneng preparing an IPO for its wind energy division?

Just days after new figures confirmed that China has overtaken the US as the world's fastest-growing wind energy market, the country's burgeoning renewables sector received a further boost following reports the country's largest power company firm is seeking an IPO for its wind energy division.

According to reports from Bloomberg citing sources close to the company, China Huaneng Group Corp is planning to float its wind energy division on the Hong Kong stock exchange later this year in an IPO worth at least $1bn (£0.63bn).

The anonymous sources said the company had already hired China International Capital Corp, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Macquarie Group Ltd and Morgan Stanley to manage the IPO, further bolstering confidence that the global clean tech market will pull off a series of bumper public offerings in the coming months.

The IPO is expected to fund the continued expansion of Huaneng Group's wind energy subsidiary as it seeks to tap into a booming market, which according to recent figures from the Global Wind Energy Council accounted for a third of all new wind energy capacity that came online last year.

The move would also follow hot on the heels of China's largest wind energy producer, China Longyuan Power Group Corp, which pulled off a $2.6bn IPO in December.

In related news, Hongkong Electric Holdings confirmed late last week that it is moving ahead with plans to develop a $385m offshore wind farm project in southwest Lamma.

A spokeswoman for the company told Reuters that the company planned to complete the 100MW project by 2015.