GE announced it will supply Vardar Vind AB and Västraby Gård Energi AB with 13 GE 2.85-103 wind turbines eight for Vardar’s Rögle and five for Västraby Gård Energi’s Västraby wind farms both located in southern Sweden.
Helping to meet renewable energy goals around the world, GE today announced it will supply Vardar Vind AB and Västraby Gård Energi AB with 13 GE 2.85-103 wind turbines eight for Vardar’s Rögle and five for Västraby Gård Energi’s Västraby wind farms both located in southern Sweden, approximately eighty kilometers north of the county capital of Malmö.
The 13 wind turbines for the two farms will provide 37 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy for Sweden, helping to supply more energy to meet the country’s goals for renewable production. Sweden aims to reach 50 percent renewable energy production for the nation by 2020.
The 22.8 MW Rögle and 14.25 MW Västraby wind farms share a common grid connection and technology sourcing, and combined will generate the equivalent power needed to supply approximately 4,000 Swedish homes for a year.
Sweden currently has 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of installed wind energy capacity, and is also the location of the first GE 1.6-100 wind turbine installed in Europe. As of 2012, wind energy provides more than six terawatt hours (TW/h) of energy for Sweden, according to the Swedish Energy Agency.
Sweden and Norway have a joint goal to reach a combined renewable energy production level of 26.4 TW/h by 2020 through an electricity certificate system, a support system for renewable energy. The two wind farms, with technology from GE, will assist in helping reach these goals.
“GE’s wind turbines are well suited to our sites and GE’s flexibility in structuring supporting services has been critical,” said Kristin Ankile, managing director of Vardar Vind AB. “Sweden is dedicated to providing cost-effective and renewable energy to its citizens, and this is a step to support in that.”
“GE wind turbines will help provide the citizens of Sweden with the cost-effective renewable energy they are searching for while supporting the important goals Sweden has set,” said Cliff Harris, general manager for Europe for GE’s renewable energy business.
The contract will include a fifteen-year service agreement. The facilities will also benefit from around-the-clock remote monitoring and diagnostics through GE’s global wind monitoring center in Salzbergen, which monitors wind turbines in Europe and Asia all day, every day throughout the year.
Vardar Vind AB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vardar AS, which is a Norwegian company making long-term investments within production of renewable energy. The core operations focus in particular on hydropower, wind power and bioenergy. The company invests in Norway, Sweden and the Baltic countries.
Västraby Gård Energi AB is a newly formed company whose primary purpose is to locally produce electricity using renewable energy sources. Among the areas that will benefit from the company's production are the districts belonging to the cities Höganäs and Helsingborg in Sweden.
The establishment of the Västraby Wind farm is the Company’s first step in the contribution to the development of the renewable energy goals in Sweden.