Canada - Vestas wins $97 million wind-turbine order

Vestas Wind Energy Systems — which temporarily halted turbine production at its Windsor plant in December — said it had received an order for 18 turbines from Canadian utility TransAlta Corp. The turbines will expand an existing wind farm in New Brunswick. Cost of the project is estimated at $97 million, according to a TransAlta statement. Vestas officials did not respond to a question as to whether the sale would affect production at the Windsor factory.

In December, Randers, Denmark-based Vestas moved to halt production in Windsor because of weak turbine sales linked to the economy, according to company officials. The plant's 500 workers, officials said, would continue to draw paychecks as they were assigned to training, facility maintenance and other nonproduction jobs, until orders picked up. "It's going to come back. The outlook for wind power in the U.S. has never been better," Peter Kruse, Vestas senior vice president for communications, said after the announcement.

Calgary-based TransAlta, Canada's largest publicly traded utility, said it was expanding the Kent Hill facility as part of a 25-year power-purchase agreement with the New Brunswick Power Distribution and Customer Service Corp. Vestas, the world's largest wind-turbine manufacturer, is investing $1 billion in four Colorado plants. In addition to Windsor, the company is building two plants in Brighton, which are set to open this year. Vestas also built a third plant in Pueblo, which began operations late last year. The plants are slated to create about 2,500 new jobs, according to the company.

For more information please contact Trevor Sievert at ts@windfair.net