The Minnesota city of New Ulm, through its Public Utilities Commission (NUPUC), recently voted to pursue a 10.5-megawatt wind project contract with Vestas-America Wind Technology, Inc., according to NUJournal.com last Friday (June 5). The project will be composed of five V82 model wind turbines to be supplied by Vestas, at an estimated total cost of $12,226,500. NUPUC will reportedly be making a down payment of about $1.2 million.

According to planning and development engineer Patrick Wrase who reportedly spoke with NUPUC, a Vestas deal would give New Ulm a five-year comprehensive warranty and service package. Vestas is also offering a 95% warranty for both guaranteed performance and availability while other manufacturers either offered lesser or no guarantees, NUJournal.com reported.

The criteria for choosing the supplier are: cost of power produced, guaranteed performance, guaranteed availability, manufacturer’s stability, proximity to service, service record reliability of offered wind energy equipment, and consideration for American production facilities.

Vestas is the world’s leading wind power solutions provider, with 20% market share and 38,000 wind turbines installed. With its headquarters in Denmark, the company also has blade and tower production units in Colorado and a research center in Texas.

-  Jen Balboa

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Sources:

¹ http://www.nujournal.com/page/content.detail/id/507364.html
² http://www.vestas.com/en/