Vestas secures 107MW Australian order

AUSTRALIA: Vestas confirmed on Friday that it had signed a deal to supply 51 turbines with a combined installed capacity of 106.8MW to the Taralga wind farm in New South Wales.

by John McKenna 1 July 2013

Vestas V90 2MW and 3MW turbines will be used
The order is made up of a combination of V90-2.0 MW, V100-1.8 MW and V90-3.0 MW turbines and will be supplied using steel towers manufactured in Australia.

In addition to an engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) contract for installing the turbines, Vestas also signed an initial five-year service agreement with the project's owners, Taralga Wind Farm Nominees, a joint venture between Spanish banking group Banco Santander and Sydney-based developer CBD Energy.

The combination of different Vestas models on the project enabled CBD to reduce the number of turbines to be deployed at the project from a planned 61 machines generating 108MW.

"As a result of utilising the Vestas turbines, we have been able to reduce the number of turbines used on the site from 61 to 51," said CBD Energy CEO Gerry McGowan.

"This has considerably reduced the environmental footprint and delivered a major economic uplift to the project."

The turbines will be manufactured and shipped through the second half of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014. Site-based construction activities will take place over a 17-month period, with the wind power plant expected to be fully operational by November 2014. Once commissioned, the Taralga Wind Farm will produce approximately 290,000MWh of electricity per year.