Vestas has received a 128 MW order for 24 V90-3.0 MW and 31 V90-1.8 MW turbines from Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) for the Solano 3 project near Rio Vista, California.
The contract includes delivery and commissioning along with up to a 15-year service and maintenance agreement. Delivery is scheduled for the second half of 2011 and commissioning expected in early 2012.
“SMUD is a highly respected long-time customer of Vestas and one of the leading utilities in the use of renewable energy,” said Martha Wyrsch, President of Vestas Americas. “We are extremely pleased to work with SMUD to help create more clean energy in California.”
Vestas’ manufacturing operations in Colorado will produce the main components for this order. All blades for the Solano 3 project will be produced at Vestas’ blade factory in Windsor, all tower sections will be manufactured at Vestas’ factory in Pueblo, the nacelles for the V90-1.8 MW turbines will be assembled at Vestas’ factory in Brighton, and the V90-3.0 MW nacelles will be assembled in Denmark.
Previously, Vestas supplied SMUD 23 V47-660 kW turbines for Solano 1 in 2005 and 29 V90-3.0 MW turbines for Solano 2 in 2007, which was the first project in North America to use V90-3.0 MW turbines.
Headquartered in Sacramento, California, SMUD is a community-owned electric utility, governed by an elected Board of Directors, serving about 1.1 million people with electricity. SMUD, founded in 1946, is the sixth-largest public utility in the USA. SMUD generates, transmits and distributes electric power to a 2,300 square-km territory that includes Sacramento County and a small portion of Placer County.
This order marks Vestas’ ninth North American deal announced in 2010, totaling 1,464 MW distributed among four turbine types.
The above order does not affect Vestas’ expectations for 2010, ref. company announcement No. 29/2010 of 18 August 2010.
