WIND TURBINE MANUFACTURER SECURES THREE NEW CONTRACTS

Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Randers, Denmark), the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines, has secured three European wind contracts with a combined generating capacity of 126 megawatts (MW).

Vestas has secured an order to supply 21 units of the company’s 3 MW V90 wind turbines to the Gotland Repowering windfarm in Näsudden, on the island of Gotland, which is southeast of mainland Sweden. The company has also secured a 40 MW deal with the UKA Group for several wind energy projects in eastern Germany, while a 23 MW contract has been signed with Volturino Wind (Verbania, Italy) for the Volturino windfarm in Apulia, Italy.

The Swedish project is owned jointly by Näsudden Väst Invest, Slitevind AB and Stugyl AB, with delivery and installation expected to be completed late next year. Vestas will also provide servicing for 15 years. The company installed its first wind turbine on Gotland in 1983. Gotland has a long history of wind energy and currently hosts hundreds of turbines that provide more than 20 percent of the island’s energy needs.

“It is with great pleasure we announce the signing of this order,” says Klaus Steen Mortensen, the president of Vestas Northern Europe. “Vestas’ long-term relationship and commitment to developers on Gotland has made this contract possible. This is Vestas’ largest project on Gotland so far.”

In Germany, Vestas is supplying 20 of the company’s two MW V90 wind turbines, which are designed to make the most of medium- and low-wind sites. The scope of the order includes supply, installation and commissioning of the wind turbines and a long-term, full-service agreement. Delivery of the wind turbines is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010. Based in the east German province of Saxony, UKA develops green energy projects and has developed windfarms with a combined generation capacity of approximately 165 MW. Germany is a leading market for Vestas, which, at the end of 2009, had supplied 5,754 turbines to the market, representing 7.16 gigawatts of generation capacity.

UKA Managing Director Gernot Gauglitz commented: “This order for Vestas turbines is one of many from UKA over the last several years and we find that the turbines provide a very good business case and a low cost of energy – both of which support our long-term business plans.”

Lastly, Vestas plans to deliver 13 1.8 MW V90 wind turbines to the Volturino windfarm in the first half of 2011. The windfarm is owned by Swiss utility BKW FMB Energie AG (Bern, Switzerland). BKW has a generation capacity of more than 2,000 MW through a mix of hydroelectric, nuclear, wind and biogas power. When commissioned, the 23.4 MW windfarm will produce enough electricity for 38,000 homes and offset carbon emissions by about 30,000 tons per year.

www.industrialinfo.com