Vestas Finished 2018 With Record Wind Turbine Orders Over 12 Gigawatts

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Danish wind turbine manufacturing giant Vestas Wind Systems A/S continued to flummox efforts to report its total wind turbine order book for 2018 right down to the wire, with five announcements made on December 31 (and a sixth on January 1), bringing its total for 2018 close to the 13 gigawatt (GW) mark.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S failed to cooperate with those of us trying to take it easy after Christmas, making sixteen turbine order announcements between the 27th of December 2018 and the 1st of January 2019 for an impressive total of 1,771 megawatts (MW) in six days.

I was able to stay on top of most of those announcements — and on December 28 I reported that Vestas had announced seven confirmed wind turbine orders over the Christmas period (December 17 to December 27) for a total of 1,023 MW. While I wrote, however, Vestas announced a further eight wind turbine orders, all dated December 28, worth 699 MW.

Little did I know that Vestas had more up its proverbial sleeve, and on December 31 the company made five announcements and followed it up with a final announcement on January 1.

The first, and largest, order announced was a 328 MW order for several wind projects in Norway that will all feature different variants of the company’s 4 MW platform of turbines. While the announcement did not reveal the developer or the projects, Vestas revealed that it would include supply, installation, and commissioning of all turbines as well as a 5-year service agreement and that installation is expected to begin in 2020 and 2021.

“The order affirms the competitiveness of Vestas’ wind power solutions and that wind power provides an attractive long-term energy investment that goes well beyond its climate and sustainability benefits,” said Nils de Baar, President North at Vestas North and Central Europe. “We are very proud that our innovative technology will be able to create maximum value for our customer.”

Vestas also announced that it will return to Sri Lanka 19 years after it installed a demonstration project with the country’s first large-scale wind park, the 104 MW Mannar Wind Power Project. The order was placed by Ceylon Electricity Board and includes Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) for what will be, far and away, the country’s first large-scale wind project ever planned — with previous projects ranging between 10 MW to 15 MW. Vestas will provide 30 of its V126-3.45 MW wind turbines to the project, located on Mannar Island, with construction expected to begin in 2019 and be completed by the third quarter of 2020.

“We are very excited with this order and the opportunity to be back in Sri Lanka,” said Clive Turton, President of Vestas Asia Pacific. “This tender signifies a clear indication of CEB and local policymakers’ intention to promote sustainable energy sources as well as increase the mix of sustainable energy in the local grid. Vestas looks forward to working together with our local partners and the local authorities towards this common goal.”

Vestas will also provide 200 MW worth of 2 MW wind turbines to its long-term customer Hanas for its Fengjigou project in China’s Ningxia province. Vestas will also include a 2-year service agreement with delivery and commissioning expected to start from the fourth quarter of 2018 [sic].

“We are delighted to continue to strengthen our close and long relationship with Hanas by delivering our innovative and proven wind energy solutions,” Thomas Keller, Senior Vice President and CFO of Vestas China. “This order is a new milestone for our partnership and it underlines how Vestas’ strong technology and customised service solutions continue to secure projects in the world’s largest wind energy market.”

Vestas also announced three smaller orders, including a 19 MW order of 4 MW turbines for one of China’s top five power companies, State Power Investment Corporation, an 18 MW order from Star Energy Corporation in Taiwan, and a second 22 MW order of 60% Production Tax Credit-qualifying turbine components in the US for an undisclosed company and project.

Finally, and again coming in just under the wire of my writing this article, Vestas has announced its first order of 2019 with a 101 MW EPC project in India from Trinethra Wind & Hydro Power Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Continuum Wind Energy Pvt Ltd. Specifically, Vestas will provide 46 of its V120-2.2 MW turbines to a project being built at Rajkot in the state of Gujarat.

“Continuum has enjoyed its relationship with Vestas and looks forward to deploying their latest offering of V120-2.2 MW turbines in India for the first phase of 101 MW of the 350 MW project,” said said Arvind Bansal, CEO of Continuum Wind Energy. “Vestas’ offering will help us provide high quality and reliable service to our prestigious commercial and industrial customers in Gujarat. We are encouraged by the increasing interest of commercial and industrial customers in purchasing renewable energy.”

“We are very excited to start the year with an EPC order in India; this showcases the confidence and trust that our customers have in our capabilities across the full range of projects,” added Clive Turton, President of Vestas Asia Pacific. “We will be working closely with our partners to help India meet its renewable energy needs while enhancing the Indian wind energy sector by providing long-term job opportunities as well as low-cost energy to the local community.”

Vestas will also provide a 15-year service agreement and the order includes delivery, installation, and commissioning, with delivery expected to begin in 2019 and commissioning by the second quarter 2019.

I reached out to Vestas for comment. Unsurprisingly, with the company’s annual report due out in the next month or so, its response was hesitant, but upbeat: “We will publish our full-year report in early February where we will share our thoughts on our 2018 results, but we are of course pleased to have broken our order record once again and by doing so underline our leading position in the market.”


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Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

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