On 20th September, Vestas announced it has begun relocating its testing activities from the present site at West Medina Mills in the Isle of Wight to the St Cross facility nearby. The move is intended to make room for future expansion currently being considered by MHI Vestas Offshore Wind. The company is moving its blade, bearing and material testing to the St Cross site, although some staff will remain at West Medina Mills.
Vestas has received a 225 MW order from Argentinian energy group Central Puerto S.A for four wind farms, three of them located in the Buenos Aires province and one project in the Córdoba province. La Genoveva I wind park will utilise 21 V136-4.2 MW turbines and the La Genoveva II and La Castellana wind parks will feature 11 and 4 V126-3.45 MW turbines respectively delivered in 3.8 Power Optimised Mode. The fourth project, the Achiras II wind park, in the Córdoba province, will comprise 21 V136-3.45 MW turbines delivered in 3.8 Power Optimised Mode.
All four projects include 5-year Active Output Management 5000 (AOM 5000) service agreements. The first project is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2019, and delivery for the last project is expected by the second quarter 2020.
The total of 57 wind turbines will be manufactured at the assembly facility to be inaugurated soon in Campana, in the Buenos Aires province. The towers for these projects will also be produced locally in partnership with Argentinian suppliers.
In the US, Vestas has received a firm and unconditional order from MidAmerican Energy Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, for 356 MW of V110-2.0 MW turbines for the Wind XI project. The order includes supply and commissioning of the wind turbines as well as a five-year Active Output Management 5000 service agreement. The turbines will be manufactured at Vestas’ factories in Colorado with delivery commencing in the second quarter of 2019. The vast majority of the major wind turbine components will be domestically sourced, making wind turbines a significant driver of growth for American manufacturing. In 2017, Vestas spent more than 1.4 billion dollars across its US based supply chain – with over 1,000 U.S. based companies – to support the production, transport, and operation of wind turbines.
When fully operational, the Wind XI project will enable MidAmerican Energy to generate approximately 90 percent of its retail energy load from wind. The project consists of multiple sites in Iowa, some of which have already started operating this year and in 2017 while others will commence operations in 2019.
Vestas has also signed a long-term comprehensive service portfolio renewal with an undisclosed customer in the US for 602 MW of wind projects.
The renewals extend the existing service agreements across multiple Vestas turbine models and sites in Texas. The customer will retain access to the company’s global service network and expertise, helping to increase performance through data-driven fleet optimisation services, predictable operations costs and maximised availability.
The company has also received orders for the V136-4.2 MW turbine totalling 146 MW across multiple projects in Canada.
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