Wind park extension becomes Vestas’ first merchant project in Italy

Utilising Vestas’ industry-leading technology and the operation data from the site’s existing wind turbines to boost energy production and mitigate production uncertainties, Vestas and the customer have developed a solution and business case that will be commercially viable without any direct financial support, selling electricity on merchant market terms.

The order includes the supply and installation of six V126-3.45 MW turbines delivered in 3.0 MW Load Optimised Mode, adding to the customer’s 48 MW of Senvion turbines already installed at the site.

Alberto Musso, CEO of VRG Wind 060, says: “Our merchant project, one of the first ones in the Italian wind sector, leverages on the following positive drivers: a wind farm in operation since 2008 mitigates energy production uncertainties, a new financing scheme which foresees such extension and Vestas’ state-of-the-art technology, which will allow us to better harness wind resources with larger rotors and modern wind turbines. We appreciated Vestas’ team for their competences and effort to finalise the agreements in a very short timeframe”.

“This merchant project underlines how a tailored technical solution and leveraging our market experience and project finance expertise enable a highly competitive business case for our customer. As one of Italy’s first merchant projects, it confirms wind energy’s increasing competitiveness and represents a great step on the country’s transition towards renewable energy that we are very proud to be part of”, says Rainer Karan, Vestas Vice President of Sales for Southern Europe and Turkey.  

Both turbine delivery and commissioning are planned for the fourth quarter of 2019.

Since installing its first turbine in Italy in 1991, Vestas has led the country’s wind industry with more than 4 GW capacity installed, being the main contributor to the expansion of wind energy with a 40 percent market share.