Vestas the No.1 Wind Turbine Manufacturer in the world has been hurt drastically from low cost competition from Asian companies particularly the Chinese Sinovel and Goldwind which have won massive chunks of marketshare.Vestas has seen a slowdown in demand for its Turbines as Western Markets have cooled off.Vestas was forced to dramatically restructure its operations laying off thousands of workers mainly from its domestic Denmark base.The company is now targeting the fastest growing segment of the Wind Power Market- Offshore Wind Energy.Note a number of companies in the Wind Turbine Industry are testing or introducing Offshore Wind Turbines.Siemens,Gamesa,GE are all looking to steal a first mover advantage in this segment.Even shipbuilders like Daewoo,Hyundai,Northrop Gruman are making aggressive moves in the offshore wind market.

Vestas has introduced a massive 7 MW V164 Turbine to target this segment.In collaboration with another Danish WInd Market Leader Dong Energy it is going to test these turbines.Having a proven product in the offshore wind market will give Vestas a big boost even as its Chinese competitors like Sinovel,Goldwind are still in the drawing stages.Vestas is looking at the offshore wind market in England which is currently the biggest in the world now.Note Offshore Wind has huge potential with USA alone said to have 4000 GW of offshore wind capacity potential which could replace all the current fossil fuel capacity.

Vestas and DONG Energy to collaborate on new offshore turbine

DONG Energy and Vestas have announced the signing of a letter of intent regarding test of the new V164-7.0 MW turbine.

According to the letter of intent, DONG Energy will perform a design review of the new V164-7.0 MW next generation offshore turbine.

Additionally it is the intention that one or more V164-7.0 MW turbines could be installed at one of DONG Energy’s test sites for research and demonstration purposes and as such will allow DONG Energy to potentially be one of the very first customers to acquire this next generation Vestas turbine for a future commercial offshore project.

The V164-7.0 MW is a dedicated offshore turbine designed specifically for the harsh conditions in the Northern European waters.

Furthermore, it is the intention of DONG Energy and Vestas to investigate the possibility for Vestas to supply a number of V112 3.0 MW for DONG Energy’s Danish onshore Kappel test site for research and demonstration purposes.

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