Vestas will supply 190 of its recent 3-MW turbines for the Alta Wind Energy Center.
Vestas received a 570 MW order for 190, V90-3.0 MW turbines for Terra-Gen’s Alta Wind Energy Center near Tehachapi, California. The order has been placed by subsidiaries of Alta Wind Holdings, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Terra-Gen Power, LLC. Terra-Gen’s V90-3.0 MW purchase is Vestas’ largest order for a single site. The Alta project also sets several important benchmarks:
• It will be one of the largest wind power plants in the United States.
• The bank financing, bond issue, and sale leaseback financing of the Alta project make it the largest financing of a North American wind-energy project and the first wind-energy leveraged lease placed in the debt capital markets.
“When completed, the project will be the largest wind farm for which we have supplied turbines in our 31-year history as well as the biggest in California,” says Martha Wyrsch, President of Vestas Americas. The contract includes delivery and commissioning as well as a five-year service and maintenance agreement. Delivery begins scheduled for late 2010. The first 50 turbines will be commissioned by the end of 2010 and the remaining equipment will be online in the first half of 2011.
“The project represents an important expansion to the renewable generating base of California and helps us advance our nation’s goals of achieving energy independence in an environmentally responsible manner, ” says Terra-Gen CEO Jim Pagano.
Vestas’ manufacturing operations in Colorado will produce wind components for this order. Blades for the Alta project will be produced at Vestas’ blades factory in Windsor, Colorado. And most of the towers will be manufactured at Vestas’ new tower factory in Pueblo, Colorado.
Terra-Gen Power, LLC, is an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners and Global Infrastructure Partners. With more than 830 MW of generating capacity in operation and 720 MW of generating capacity under construction, Terra-Gen is one of the nation’s largest renewable energy providers and the only U.S. company that provides electricity on a utility scale from all three renewable-energy sources: wind, solar and geothermal power. Terra-Gen has 21 renewable-energy facilities operating in six states, and more than 5,000 MW of renewable energy capacity under development.
The Alta Wind Energy Center is supported by a 1,550 MW power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison to sell renewable energy. This order marks Vestas’ eighth North American deal announced in 2010, totaling 1,336 MW this year among four turbine types.
Vestas, a manufacturer of high-tech wind power systems, has supplied more than 40,500 wind turbines to 65 countries since 1979. The company is investing upwards of $1 billion in the USA to establish its North American manufacturing base, which includes a tower manufacturing facility, a nacelle-assembly factory, and two blade factories. The firm delivered its first wind turbine to North America in 1981 and since has supplied more than 11,000 turbines in this region.
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