Vestas Enters The Finnish Market With Order Of Strategic Importance

Vestas has received an 18 MW order for delivery and installation of six V112-3.0 MW wind turbines in Finland.

Vestas has received an 18 MW order for delivery and installation of six V112-3.0 MW wind turbines in Finland. The turbines will be installed at the Simo wind park in the municipality of Simo in Finnish Lapland and will provide energy to 11,000 homes.

The order includes supply, installation and commissioning of the turbines, a VestasOnline Business SCADA system and a six-year service agreement of Active Output Management (AOM) 4000. The installation at the Simo wind park will start during the autumn of 2011 and is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

The customer is TuuliWatti Oy, a company established in 2009 as a joint venture between St1 Oy and the S-Group. St1 Oy is a Finnish energy company whose vision is to be the leading producer and seller of CO₂ -aware energy. The company researches and develops economically viable and environmentally sustainable energy solutions. The S-Group provides services for several trades and has more than 1,600 places of business in Finland, which also places the corporation among the top ten electricity consumers in the country.

"This order is an important breakthrough for Vestas in Finland. We are very pleased with the confidence TuuliWatti Oy has expressed in our products and services," says Klaus Steen Mortensen, President of Vestas Northern Europe.

Finland launched a feed-in tariff system for renewable energy earlier this year, and has a renewable energy target to produce 6 TWh from wind power by 2020. This requires a capacity of approx 2,500 MW. Finland currently has 130 wind turbines installed corresponding to a total capacity of 197 MW. 20 of these turbines are older Vestas or NEG Micon turbines1).

"We are very happy to have established a strong partnership with TuuliWatti Oy who is really a frontrunner in developing wind energy in Finland. The selected Vestas turbine, the V112-3.0 MW, has an excellent fit with the Finnish wind regimes and we look forward to developing the wind park in Simo together with TuuliWatti Oy," says Krister Poole Jönsson, Vice President of Sales Scandinavia & the Baltics.

"The Simo project is a very important corner stone for TuuliWatti Oy as it kicks off our € 400 million investment project. Our target is to have built 10 per cent of the Finnish year-2020 renewable energy target by year-end 2015. To be able to build cost efficient onshore wind electricity production, we need a world leading partner and products with high hub heights and wide rotor diameters. Vestas and the V112-3.0 MW are a perfect fit to our Simo project," says Jari Suominen Managing Director of TuuliWatti Oy.

About TuuliWatti Oy
TuuliWatti Oy was established in 2009 as a joint venture by energy company St1 Oy and S-Voima Oy. TuuliWatti Oy represents a new type of company in the Finnish energy market. Wind power projects typically take a long time and the handling of permits has its effect on the timing of the need for resources. The operation of TuuliWatti is based on a cost-effective model, in which the work contributed by the participating companies can be targeted flexibly as needed to the projects as they are advancing. The company's management consists of representatives of both partner companies. For more information, visit www.tuuliwatti.fi.

About Vestas Northern Europe
Vestas Northern Europe is one of seven Sales Business Units in the Vestas Group. The company manages all sales, construction and service operations in the countries of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, The Baltic States, Poland, Ireland and the United Kingdom. As of 31 December 2010, Vestas Northern Europe has delivered a cumulative capacity of 6,389 MW, representing 14 per cent of Vestas' global capacity. For more information, visit www.vestas.com.

About the V112-3.0 MW turbine
The V112-3.0 MW was released for sales in August 2010. It is based on proven technology and Vestas' more than 30 years of experience within manufacturing wind turbines. The V112-3.0 MW is designed for low and medium wind speeds. 80 per cent of a V112-3.0 MW turbine can be recycled, and after approx eight months, the wind turbine is energy-neutral, which means that it will contribute to reducing carbon emissions for more than 19 years. During its lifetime, the V112-3.0 MW wind turbine only emits 7 grams of CO₂ per kWh, deriving from production and installation of the turbine. By 2015, efficiency must have improved by 15 per cent so that the turbine emits a maximum of 6 grams of CO₂ per kWh during its lifetime. For more information, visit www.vestas.com.

1) Vestas and NEG Micon merged their activities in 2004.

SOURCE: Vestas