Vestas lands order for the largest wind power project in Australia - with the new V112 turbine now released for sale both on and offshore
Vestas lands order for the largest wind power project in Australia - with the
new V112 turbine now released for sale both on and offshore
This morning in Melbourne, Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel signed a contract for the
delivery of 140 V112-3.0 MW turbines for key account customers AGL Energy
Limited and Meridian's 420 MW Macarthur project, located in Australia.
The Macarthur Wind Farm will become the home of the largest wind farm in the
Southern Hemisphere, with 420 MW of clean and renewable energy generation
capacity coming from 140 new V112-3.0 MW wind turbines.
The Macarthur project is being jointly developed by AGL Energy Limited and
Meridian.
AGL is a publicly listed electricity generator and retailer operating in the
Australian market, while Meridian is the largest state-owned renewable energy
generator and retailer in New Zealand and a renewable energy developer in
Australia. Both AGL and Meridian are Vestas global key account customers and
have existing wind farms with Vestas at the Wattle Point (AGL), and Te Apiti and
White Hill Wind Farms (Meridian).
The Macarthur site is located in the Western District of Victoria, Australia,
between the towns of Macarthur, Hawkesdale and Penshurst.
Vestas, in consortium with Leighton Contractors will jointly install the
Macarthur Wind Farm. The contract comprises a full engineering, procurement and
construction contract (EPC), a ten-year service agreement and a VestasOnline®
Business SCADA solution. The first turbines are expected on site during Q3 2011
with the whole project expected fully installed by the first half of 2013.
“Vestas is a world leader in wind power manufacturing and we feel very confident
in choosing Vestas turbines for the Macarthur Wind Farm. We believe our
agreement with Vestas and the use of its latest technology will result in a very
successful project. We are delighted to be one of the first customers to utilise
the V112-3.0 MW turbines,” says Michael Fraser, Chief Executive of AGL.
“The low Cost of Energy and the higher installed MW with fewer turbines were the
attractive propositions of the V112-3.0 MW turbine. To ensure that the V112-3.0
MW platform is the right solution for the Macarthur project, we did extensive
due diligence through site visits and technical meetings,” says Tim Lusk, Chief
Executive of Meridian Energy and adds: “We have built a strong relationship with
Vestas over the years in New Zealand and committing ourselves to this product
shows our faith in Vestas to deliver our priorities.”
The Macarthur Wind Farm project is one of many that relies upon the Australian
Parliament's 20 per cent Renewable Energy Target (RET), passed in late June this
year. The RET will help to provide Vestas' customers with the business case
certainty they require to build projects of this size and will be a strong
support to the development of wind power projects such as Macarthur.
“We are proud once again to be working with AGL and Meridian, and particularly
proud that they have chosen Vestas and the new V112-3.0 MW for this
record-breaking clean energy project,” says Sean Sutton, President of Vestas
Asia Pacific. “This project represents the largest single order for Vestas
Australia and Asia Pacific and is also the largest wind power project to be
announced after the establishment of Australia's renewable energy targets
earlier this year. The new V112-3.0 MW is a perfect solution to meet AGL and
Meridian's needs for a highly-productive and cost-effective turbine for the
medium wind speeds on the project site. I would also take this opportunity to
thank Leighton Contractors and my colleagues at Vestas Australia for their
involvement and dedication to secure this order.”
“The V112 turbine delivers high productivity due to its large swept area, higher
rotor efficiency and better serviceability and reliability, which in turn
improve availability. Its reliability is assured through Vestas'
state-of-the-art testing centre,” says Finn Strøm Madsen, President of Vestas
Technology R&D and continues: “With this order, we have now released the new
V112-3.0 MW turbine for sale for both onshore and offshore.”
“We are extremely pleased to be able to launch the new V112-3.0 MW turbine by
the signing of this order with two of our key account customers,” says Ditlev
Engel, President & CEO of Vestas Wind Systems A/S and continues: “We have high
expectations for this new turbine and we consider AGL and Meridian's choice of
turbine for their prestigious project a positive acknowledgement of our
technological efforts. Finally, I wish to congratulate all Vestas colleagues who
have been involved in securing this order, which has been done through a truly
global effort.”
The above order does not affect Vestas' expectations for 2010, ref. company
announcement No. 21/2010 of 28 April 2010.
Yours sincerely
Vestas Wind Systems A/S
Ditlev Engel,
President and CEO
Contact Details:
Vestas Asia Pacific, Singapore
Sean Sutton, President
Tel.: See below
Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Denmark
Peter W Kruse, Senior Vice President, Group
Communications
Tel.: +45 9730 0000
For more information and to arrange interviews, please contact:
Maran G Krishnan
Tel: +65 6303 6553/Mobile: +65 9786 6553
Email: magop@vestas.com
for interviews with President Sean Sutton
Michael Holm
Tel.: +45 9730 3236
Email: micho@vestas.com
for interviews with CEO Ditlev Engel
For taped interviews with CEO Ditlev Engel and President of Vestas Technology
R&D Finn Strøm Madsen, please see video clips on www.vestas.com/broadcast.
