Economy & Economic Development  May 4, 2015

Vestas lands 400-megawatt wind farm project in Nebraska

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S, which has plants in Windsor and Brighton, has announced its third and fourth major orders in a week – one in northeastern Nebraska and one in Austria.

The Nebraska order – for 200 V110 2-megawatt turbines for the Grand Prairie wind farm in Holt County, about 190 miles north northwest of Omaha – is Vestas’ largest single-phase U.S. project to date, according to the company.

The order was placed by BHE Renewables LLC, an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which owns a portfolio of energy businesses including the U.S. utilities PacifiCorp, MidAmerican Energy Co. and NV Energy. Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s businesses own wind projects representing more than 4 gigawatts of wind across the West and Midwest.

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“BHE Renewables is a major player in the U.S. wind sector,” said Chris Brown, president of Vestas’ sales and service division in the United States and Canada. “Their parent company is well known and respected for its long-term investments in fundamentally sound industries. We’re extremely pleased that they have chosen our workhorse turbine … for Grande Prairie.”

Deliveries are expected to begin around this time next year, with project completion expected by the end of 2016.

Vestas also announced that it will equip and build a 33-megawatt wind power plant in Austria for Smart-energy Betriebs GmbH, using 10 units of its V126 3.3-megawatt turbines. The Hohenruppersdorf II wind farm will be located in the northeastern state of Lower Austria. Vestas expects to start delivering the turbines late this year, with commissioning scheduled for the second quarter of 2016.

“Based on its large rotor diameter, the V126 is best suited for harvesting medium- to low-wind sites,” said Betriebs managing director Martin Blochberger in a media statement.

Last week, Vestas announced that it had received a 19.8-megawatt turbine order for a wind project in Australia and a 78-megawatt order for a project in Minnesota.

Vestas announced in March that it would add 400 jobs at its plant in Windsor. Its plants in Brighton and Windsor manufacture the turbine blades, while nacelles are assembled in Windsor and towers in Pueblo.

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S, which has plants in Windsor and Brighton, has announced its third and fourth major orders in a week – one in northeastern Nebraska and one in Austria.

The Nebraska order – for 200 V110 2-megawatt turbines for the Grand Prairie wind farm in Holt County, about 190 miles north northwest of Omaha – is Vestas’ largest single-phase U.S. project to date, according to the company.

The order was placed by BHE Renewables LLC, an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which owns a portfolio of energy businesses including the U.S. utilities PacifiCorp, MidAmerican Energy Co.…

Dallas Heltzell
With BizWest since 2012 and in Colorado since 1979, Dallas worked at the Longmont Times-Call, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post and Public News Service. A Missouri native and Mizzou School of Journalism grad, Dallas started as a sports writer and outdoor columnist at the St. Charles (Mo.) Banner-News, then went to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before fleeing the heat and humidity for the Rockies. He especially loves covering our mountain communities.
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