Vestas, which is the leading supplier of wind turbines in the world, has consolidated its position in the burgeoning Chinese market by signing a 49-MW contract on 15 April. In a related press release, the Danish company refused to identify the client "for reasons of confidentiality" and merely asserted that the contract relates to a wind farm in the Guandong province. In 2009, China added 13.8 GW of wind power to its total wind accumulated capacity, which now stands at 26 GW. Vestas says it has installed 2 GW in China, accounting for approximately 8% of the total. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) estimates that China will install 20 GW of new capacity per annum between now and 2014.
Meanwhile, another Danish wind turbine manufacturer, Nordex, also announced on 15 April a contract for 30 MW in Greece. The twelve machines covered by the 2.5-MW contract will be supplied for a project on the north coast of the country. Nordex has also opted not to disclose details of the client or the wind farm developer, but has revealed that the wind farm will come on stream in mid-2011. Although the Greek market has failed to meet industry expectations, it did pass the 1-GW milestone in late 2009, despite only 97 MW of new capacity being installed during the entire year. The new Socialist government, which was elected last October, says it wants to generate 40% of the country’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020 (currently 2%).
Finally, the leading German manufacturer, Enercon, has published details of a 33-MW contract signed in Taiwan earlier this year with the state electricity utility, TPC. The contract includes six 900 kW machines, destined for the island of Penghu, and twelve 2.3-MW machines, 23 MW of which will be supplied for a wind farm in Wang Kong, and the remainder for a 4.6-MW wind farm neighbouring TPC’s coal-fired power plant in Datan. According to the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), at the end of 2009, Taiwan had 436 MW of accumulated wind capacity, after adding 78 MW of new power in 2009, 11.5 MW of which was installed by Enercon. The German technologist says it has installed a hundred wind turbines in Taiwan to date.
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