Vestas secures 309 MW service contract renewal in Wisconsin

The renewal contract, which begins near the end of 2013, covers 309 MW worth of wind turbines at the Glacier Hills, Blue Sky Green Field and Byron sites.
 
“This service contract extension demonstrates our strong relationship with the largest utility in Wisconsin, and shows their confidence in both our products and service team,” said Chris Brown, president of Vestas’ sales and service division in the United States and Canada. “Our turbine availability at Glacier Hills is higher than 99 percent in the past year, and at Blue Sky Green Field, it’s been above 98 percent since early 2012. These were important factors that allowed us to secure this agreement.”
 
Vestas began its partnership with We Energies in 1999, supplying the utility its first wind turbines, two V47-660 kW in Byron. Vestas then provided 88 V82-1.65 MW turbines for the Blue Sky Green Field project in northeast Fond du Lac County that went online in 2008. In December 2011, We Energies and Vestas finished its latest project, the Glacier Hills Wind Park, which consists of 90 V90-1.8 MW turbines near the towns of Randolph and Scott in Columbia County.
 
The service contract extension includes Vestas’ Active Output Management (AOM) 4000 maintenance program which guarantees turbine availability. This service option includes the VestasOnline® surveillance system to remotely control and monitor the turbines as well as predict potential maintenance issues. This allows Vestas to plan maintenance so the turbines are operational for the maximum amount of time.
 
The three wind plants are capable of generating enough electricity to power more than 80,000 households in Wisconsin.

“The service and maintenance Vestas will provide for the largest wind farms in Wisconsin is critical to the reliable production of renewable energy for our customers,” said Allen Leverett, We Energies executive vice president.

Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., We Energies provides electric and natural gas service to customers in portions of Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The company continues to generate and purchase more energy from renewable resources such as wind power to meet customer demand and the state of Wisconsin’s Renewable Portfolio Standard.
 
About Vestas
With over 56 GW of installed capacity worldwide and 62 percent more capacity installed than its closest competitor, Vestas is the global leader in wind energy. Since 1979, Vestas has supplied more than 49,000 wind turbines in 73 countries. Vestas provides jobs for more than 17,000 people at our service and project sites, research facilities, factories and offices all over the world. Vestas’ U.S. and Canadian sales and service headquarters is in Portland, Ore., and its global headquarters is in Aarhus, Denmark. To learn more, visit www.vestas.com.