BIG BIG BUY IN WIND POWER’S CRADLE

Vestas Climbs After Winning Largest Wind Turbine Order
Christian Weinberg, July 22, 2010 (Bloomberg News)

"Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the [world’s] biggest maker of wind turbines, …[has won] its largest order for a single power-generation site.

"Vestas will supply 190…V90-3.0 megawatt model [turbines] to Terra-Gen Power LLC’s Alta Wind Energy Center near Tehachapi in California, [one of the birthplaces of utility-scale wind power]…"

A Tehachapi view (photo by NewEnergyNews - click to enlarge

"The order is the fifth Vestas signed in the U.S. this year after winning no contracts in [credit crunch squeezed] 2009…Vestas is spending about $1 billion to expand production capacity in the U.S. where it competes with General Electric Co. over a market that Chief Executive Officer Ditlev Engel has described as having the world’s best wind resources…

"Vestas said it expects to book orders this year with a combined capacity of 8,000 to 9,000 megawatts, which means this deal would comprise up to 7.1 percent of its 2010 order intake…"

California's biggest wind producer is about to get bigger. (click to enlarge)

"Analysts had expected that Vestas will fall short of its 2009 sales forecast of 7 billion euros. The company will have revenue this year of 6.73 billion euros, according to the average estimate of 33 analysts…Profit of 437 million euros is forecast for 2010…

"…[The Tehachapi order] is worth more than 600 million euros ($770 million)…The contract includes delivery and commissioning as well as a five-year service and maintenance agreement…The company will deliver 50 turbines by the end of this year and the rest in the first half of 2011…"