SINGAPORE, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Vestas Wind Systems, the world's leading wind turbine manufacturer, announced Thursday the opening of its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, aiming to strengthen its development in Asia.

    Vestas also announced that it will invest up to 500 million Singapore dollars (about 316.4 million U.S. dollars) over the next10 years to develop a research and development center in Singapore, according to a statement released by Vestas.

    The center will be ready in the first half of next year and will employ 150 research engineers in Singapore.

    Vestas currently has three regional sales and service centers, as well as manufacturing plants in Australia, India and China. Since last year, the company has seen increasing interest in Asia for wind technology. It currently has an installed base of over 5,000 wind turbines in wind farms across six Asia-Pacific countries. Enditem