Vestas has received an order for 48 V112-3.0 MW turbines for the 148-MW Oakfield project in the state of Maine. The order is a call-off on the master supply agreement (MSA) announced in December 2013 for multiple U.S. projects, the potential of which totals 718 MW. With today’s order, Vestas has secured 298 MW under this MSA.
The highly popular V112-3.0 MW turbines – for which Vestas has already received almost 6 GW of orders – will be supplied for this project. The project will also include a 10-year Active Output Management (AOM) 5000 service agreement. AOM 5000 is an energy-based availability guarantee that ensures the turbines are operational when the wind is blowing. This service option includes the VestasOnline® surveillance system that remotely controls and monitors the turbines and minimizes lost production by predicting when maintenance may be required.
"We're pleased to continue the construction of the Oakfield Wind project and look forward to installing Vestas’ V112-3.0 MW turbines there," said First Wind CEO Paul Gaynor. "The Vestas turbines at our Bull Hill project in Maine and the Palouse project in Washington State have performed well and we expect the Oakfield project to enjoy similar success."
“This order underlines the strong partnership between Vestas and First Wind, one of the leading wind developers in the U.S.” said Chris Brown, President of Vestas’ sales and service division in the United States and Canada. “This is the fourth project Vestas and First Wind are carrying out together and the second in Maine. The first project in Maine has achieved 99 per cent availability since it was commissioned in 2012, a testament to the performance of our technology and service capabilities that customers expect from Vestas.”
Deliveries for the Oakfield project will take place in the 2nd quarter of 2015, with commissioning expected by the 4th quarter of 2015. Vestas’ factories in Colorado are expected to be involved in the manufacturing for this project. To meet customer demand, Vestas is adding more workers at three of its Colorado factories – the blade factory in Windsor as well as the blade and nacelle factories in Brighton. Vestas is recruiting now and expects to add hundreds of production workers in the first half of 2014 in Windsor and Brighton, primarily at the two blade factories. Interested candidates can apply at ElwoodWindJobs.com.
Since 1979, Vestas has supplied more than 51,000 wind turbines and over 60 GW in 73 countries – 52 percent more than its closest competitor. Vestas entered the U.S. market in 1981, selling its first wind turbine for a project in California. Since then, the company has delivered 12,444 turbines to the United States and 1,608 to Canada. Combined, Vestas’ installed capacity is 13,820 MW in 28 U.S. states and every Canadian province – enough to power about four million households. Vestas employs about 16,600 people worldwide including about 2,500 throughout the United States and Canada at service and construction sites, sales offices, and at four manufacturing facilities in Colorado. Vestas’ U.S. and Canadian sales and service headquarters is in Portland, Oregon.