Shares of wind energy giant Vestas have shot up over 12 percent in three days following two positive announcements.
Yesterday the Aarhus-based firm reported a 400MW order by Texas-based Duke Energy Renewables for 200 V110 wind turbines.
It is the company’s single largest order in three years and brings its 2013 sales to 3,356MW.
Mitsubishi joint venture
And this morning Vestas announced that it had agreed a joint venture with Japan’s Mitsubishi that is designed to establish the two companies as the global leaders in offshore wind energy.
“Leveraging on the respective strengths of each organisation, the joint venture will be well-positioned to win an expanding share of the offshore wind turbine market and become a global leader in this attractive and high-growth market,” Vestas stated in a press release.
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The joint venture was finalised after a year of negotiation and will be funded by an initial 750 million kroner investment from Mitsubishi. The Japanese firm will invest another 1.5 billion kroner if the relationship accomplishes certain milestones.
Focus on offshore wind
The joint venture will be headquartered in Aarhus, and will be staff by 300 current Vestas employees. It will assume responsibility for development of its V164 8.0MW turbines along with the sales of its V112 model.
Vestas and Mitsubishi will provide services for the joint venture which, at a later stage, will explore the possibility of integrating Mitsubishis’s hydraulic DDT technology into the 8MW turbines.
Vestas stated that its main market for their offshore turbines are North Sea coastal countries including the UK and Germany, where they expect solid growth to continue.
A perfect match
Jin Kato, the general manager of Mitsubishi's wind turbine division, told a press conference today that Vestas was “an ideal partner”.
“We are very pleased to present this deal,” Kato told a press conference this morning.“It is an opportunity to win the race for offshore wind energy. Vestas is a pioneer in the market and they have the experience and the track record as a professional windmill producer, making them the perfect match for remaining the global leader within offshore wind.”
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Vestas has sold turbines to 73 countries, employs 17,000 worldwide. The 57,000MW of wind energy it has installed is 62 percent more than its nearest competitor.
Mitsubishi has only installed 4,400MW of wind energy, and its main contribution to the partnership will be capital, access to global energy markets, logistics, production and servicing.
