Vestas Reports Strong Performance In Early 2010

Denmark’s Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine maker, is enjoying a large number of orders recently to come back from a very shaky 2009.

Vestas announced last Wednesday that German company Nordwind Handels GmbH & Co. ordered 40 V90 turbines for installation in eastern Germany. Each turbine has a capacity of 2 MW. The contract includes delivery, installation and commissioning as well as a 10-year service agreement, the company said. “Installation of the turbines will start during the fourth quarter of 2010 and the project is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2011,” a Vestas statement said.

This past Wednesday the company reported an order for 48 V90 turbines from another German company, Prokon, for installation in Poland. The turbines will be delivered between 2010 and 2012, Vestas said.

That same day, a customer who asked to remain anonymous ordered 24 x V90 turbines for installation in southern Spain. Shortly before Christmas, Vestas received an order from Danish company Global Wind Power for 75 wind turbines to be installed in Bulgaria and Romania. The client ordered 25 V90 turbines and 50 V100 models, each of which has a capacity of 1.8 MW. Around that time, Vestas also announced its first order from China, when utility China Datang Renewable Power decided to purchase 58 V60 turbines, each with a capacity of 850 KW. These turbines were designed to perform in extreme heat and cold, especially for the growing Chinese market. They will be installed in Mongolia, Vestas said.

Vestas had a rocky first part of the year, forcing the company to close down its Isle of Wight factory, with 425 jobs lost. Randers-based Vestas performed stronger toward the end of 2009 when in late October it announced a forecast-beating 70-per cent rise in third-quarter net profits. The company’s third-quarter net profit increased to $243 million, up from $143 million the year before. Vestas banks on growing wind power markets in the United States and in Eastern Europe, the latter boosted by the EU’s ambitious target of meeting 20 percent of its energy demand from renewable sources.

Vestas, which employs nearly 21,000 people, has more than 39,000 wind turbines installed all over the world.

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