- the World’s Largest Wind Turbine Producer

From relative obscurity in a small village on the West Coast of Denmark, the Vestas Group - with associated companies in Spain, Italy and India - has become the world’s largest producer of wind turbines in the fast-growing world market for wind energy.

On April 30 1998, Vestas, a leading developer and technological innovator in wind energy, was listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. Today the Vestas Group has subsidiaries and joint ventures in countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Germany, the United States, Spain, India and Italy. The global market share for Vestas technology was some 23% in 1998.

In 1998, the Group had a record turnover of DKK 2,830 million – and profit before tax was DKK 258 million. At the end of 1998, the Vestas Group was one of the absolute world leaders in wind technology with 1,813 employees, plus 572 employees in associated companies, and some 8,200 Vestas turbines in operation in more than 35 countries (equivalent to a capacity of approximately 2,633 MW).

Vestas facilities

A key Vestas policy has been to build, acquire and maintain its own production facilities for blades, control systems and components, which have been machine-tooled. As a result of this strategy, and to meet the growing demands, Vestas is continuously expanding its production capacity. When the presently planned expansion is completed, the Group’s capacity will reach 1900 MW, which includes the production capacity of the associated companies.

In 1998, Vestas took over parts of a former shipyard in Ringkøbing, Denmark. The shipyard includes, among other things, a 6,000m² factory hall which is ideal for assembling nacelles for the large V66-1.65 MW turbines. Some of the other buildings in the former shipyard have now become Vestas’ new administrative headquarters. And since the shipyard is located at the harbor, it gives Vestas quick access to transport by sea, if needed in the future in connection with offshore projects.

Product series

The Vestas Group manufactures and markets wind turbine ranging in size from 600 kW to 1800 kW. The range of pitch-regulated turbines consists of V39/42/44-600, V47-660 kW, V47-600/200 kW, V66-1650 kW and V66-1800 kW Offshore. Vestas has introduced its revolutionary OptiSlip® generator system, which optimizes energy production, in all of these turbines.

Setting the standard

As the world’s leading wind turbine producer, Vestas feels responsible for setting the standard in this dynamic, but highly technical field of business. As a result, the Group has developed a completely new concept called "Proven Performance." "Proven Performance" defines the key criteria for turbine performance in four vital areas: Energy output, availability, power quality and sound. The concept is designed to make these key parameters understandable to the general public – and especially to give decision-makers a tool that can help them understand and evaluate wind turbine performance.

By focusing on these vital issues, Vestas has once again positioned itself as the international market leader with the ability and vision to study, verify and document the economic and environmental implications of wind energy for the world.

Bright future

During the past 20 years, world demand for wind energy has increased dramatically, and industry experts estimate that this demand will continue to grow by some 20% per year. Based on this growing interest in wind energy, Vestas has become one of the industry’s market leaders, thanks to the Group’s technical expertise, high-quality products, constant technological innovation and good customer service.

Future prospects

Besides working to capacity to meet current orders, Vestas will continue to focus on improving and optimizing turbine design and performance so that the cost of energy per kilowatt hour can be further reduced.

Wind power at sea will be another strong focus for Vestas because it opens up enormous new perspectives for energy supply. In this connection, the huge megawatt turbines give Vestas the opportunity to be among the world leaders in the development of offshore wind farms.

So it is safe to say that with the world’ growing interest in environment-friendly energy and the immense requirements of the developing countries for new sources of energy, the Vestas Group will undoubtedly continue to be very busy in the New Millennium.