Vestas has received an order for delivery of a total capacity of 52 MW for the El Gallo wind power plant to be installed in Burgos, in the north of Spain. The order consists of a turnkey project including civil and electrical works, supply, installation and commissioning of 26 units of the V90-2.0 MW turbine with a 105-metre hub height.
The contract also includes a VestasOnline® Business SCADA system, a Condition Monitoring System, as well as a 12-year service agreement including the Active Output Management package ‘AOM4000’. The AOM 4000 is a full-scope service contract, consisting of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and consumables, which offers solid risk management for customers, who want an availability guarantee measured against an agreed threshold. This type of contract offers customers assured performance avoiding unforeseen operational costs of any kind.
Delivery of the turbines for the Gallo wind power plant is scheduled to start in Q1 2012 and the project is expected to be completed in Q2 2012.
The order has been placed by CyL Energía Eólica SLU belonging to VAPAT, a local company in Castilla León in Spain with extensive experience in wind energy projects. The company has been a pioneer in Europe within installation of wind power plants with the V90-2.0 MW turbines with 105-metre hub height obtaining excellent results on sites with low wind potential. Different companies within the VAPAT Group are developing innovative projects in Castilla y Leon with wind potential at site heights not yet explored. The Spanish region of Castilla y León has the largest installed wind base in Spain with more than 4,800 MW as of 1 January 2011 and ambitious wind targets for the following years. Different companies in the VAPAT Group will continue developing new wind projects in Castilla y León.
Miguel Picardo, General Manager of Vestas Iberia emphasises: “We are glad to receive this order from VAPAT, in spite of the current uncertainty in the market. This is the fourth contract that Vestas signs this year with this customer, which clearly shows the confidence they have in Vestas’ capabilities. Our reliable technology and our ability to deliver business case certainty are two of the main reasons why companies developing wind projects in Spain, such as VAPAT, choose Vestas as partner.”
Juan Araluce, President of Vestas Mediterranean concludes: “The wind industry in Spain contributes annually with close to 3,000 million euros to the national gross domestic product and employs today more than 30,000 people. These figures can be much higher, provided that the right decisions are made to give the market the necessary regulatory certainty for wind investments to continue taking place – facilitating the accomplishment of the Spanish renewable energy targets for 2020. On the contrary, failing to create the appropriate framework and conditions will not only impact the future development of the industry, but in the longer run it will also jeopardize the successes achieved”.
The above-mentioned wind power plant has a total estimated production of 173,400 MWh per year, which corresponds to an annual emission saving of 56,500 tons of CO2 emissions. Furthermore, it will provide enough electricity to cover the residential electricity consumption of close to 110,000 people in Spain.
Vestas has previously delivered to other companies within the VAPAT Group 322 MW with a 105-metre hub height; this technology together with a detailed planning has optimised the wind resources at the different sites. The 2 MW platform is the industry’s most proven turbine ‘family’ with more than 7,800 installations worldwide. This means high reliability, low operational downtime and high performance.