Vestas to supply new U.S., Taiwan wind projects

Vestas Wind Systems has received orders to supply a total of 234 V80-1.8 MW wind turbines to three U.S. wind power projects. Sixty-seven will go to the 120 MW Buffalo Gap Wind Farm project being developed by SeaWest Holdings Inc. (San Diego, Calif.), while 84 will provide a 151 MW expansion to the Blue Canyon II project, a 54-turbine farm built in southwest Oklahoma in 2003. Upon completion, the farm's output will total 225 MW. The third project, the Hopkins Ridge Wind Facility, involves installation of 83 Vestas V80-1.8MW wind turbines in Columbia County in eastern Washington State.

Shipment is expected to start in August with the commissioning date set for December. In addition, the company also has received an order for 120 of its 120 V82-1.65 MW wind turbines for the Maple Ridge Wind Farm (formerly called Flat Rock Wind Power Project) located 75 miles northeast of Syracuse in upstate New York. Farm co-developers Zilkha Renewable Energy (Houston, Texas) and PPM Energy Inc. (Portland, Ore.) expect the farm to be commercially operational by the end of 2005. The first phase of the project is expected to be 198 MW using 120 1.65 MW Vestas turbines. The project area spans 21,000 acres and was chosen partly because of it experiences strong lake-effect winds. According to Zilkha, Phase I will more than quadruple wind power in New York, providing electricity to about 59,400 homes and creating an estimated 300 jobs at the peak of building.

Taiwan Power Corp. Ltd., a state-owned company, has placed an order for 23 units of V80-2.0 MW wind turbines for the Changkong project in the western part of Taiwan. Delivery is scheduled to begin in March 2006, with commissioning set for third quarter 2006.