Construction of new wind power plant on Gotland called off

Construction of new wind power plant on Gotland called off The Näsudden III wind power project on southern Gotland has been called off. The client, Vattenfall, and the suppliers' consortium consisting of ABB and SW Vindkraft AB (ScanWind) have agreed that it will not be possible to achieve the project's original objectives as intended. They also believe that a continued commercialisation of the project will not be possible within the intended time frame. The Näsudden III project began in the summer of 2000. The aim of this 3 MW project was to demonstrate a new technical solution which it was believed would become competitive in the long term in comparison with electricity generation at modern, natural-gas fired plants. Part of this solution was that the unit itself and the power transmission were seen as forming an integrated whole. Näsudden III was part of the sustainable energy solutions' programme and was funded by Vattenfall, the Swedish National Energy Administration, ABB and ScanWind. The pilot plant Näsudden III was to be built at Näsudden on Gotland and to be commissioned in 2002. The reason for calling off the project is that the rate of technical development in the field of wind power has been so rapid that the size of the turbine blades required is not commercially available. Vattenfall will continue to work with wind power development. Work on the siting of offshore plants will be carried out in the Karlskrona project in accordance with the plans drawn up earlier. ABB will continue to be a leading supplier of generators and other electrical equipment to those companies that manufacture wind power plants. From Vattenfall's Press Office, tel: +46 8 739 50 10. For more information, please contact: Lennart Billfalk, Director, Vattenfall AB, tel: 08-739 50 98, mobile: 070-539 50 98. Torolf Pettersen, Adm. Dir., ScanWind Group AS, tel: +47 738 20 641, mobile: +47-95054658. Press Director Per Lennart Berg, ABB, tel: 021-32 50 25, mobile: 070-24250 25 Vattenfall's vision is to be a leading European energy company. Vattenfall's main products are electricity and heat. Today, Vattenfall generates power and supplies energy to several million customers in the Nordic region and northern Europe. The largest electricity customers are industrial plants and energy companies. The Group's net sales in 2001, excluding operations in Germany, are estimated to over EUR 4.2 billion. For more information, see www.vattenfall.com. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/02/15/20040817BIT21090/wkr0001.pdf