Vestas grows large-class US onshore wind turbine market share with add-on order

Vestas received a 171MW order consisting of 38 V150-4.5MW wind turbines from Canadian developer Cordelio Power for the Moraine Sands project in the US state of Illinois, as the Danish giant continues to rack up sales in the fast-growing 4-6MW class market.

The OEM leads this market segment – ahead of Nordex, the number two player, and Siemens Gamesa, with GE Renewable Energy a minor presence thus far –which now represents 35% of the near-term US onshore wind development pipeline where projects have selected and reported a turbine provider, according to industry advocacy body American Clean Power.

The 4-6MW class has been a bright spot for Vestas in the US where its share of total installations had declined to 28% last year from 34% in 2020. The company held the top spot as recently as 2017.

Moraine Sands is an expansion of the 185MW Glacier Sands wind farm, commissioned last November, which is built around 43 if the OEM’s V150-4.2MW turbines delivered in 4.3MW operating mode.

“Building off the successful commissioning and operations of the Glacier Sands wind farm, Vestas is thrilled to partner once again with Cordelio on the Moraine Sands wind project to collaboratively expand Illinois’ renewable energy footprint,” said Laura Beane, president of Vestas North America.

The order includes supply and commissioning of the turbines, as well as a 20-year Active output management 5000 service agreement, designed to ensure optimised performance of the asset. Turbine delivery begins in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The 4MW platform was launched by Vestas in 2010 with the V112-3.0 MW, with over 55GW of the platform now installed. The design flies rotor diameters ranging from 105-155 meters and rated output up to 4.5MW.

Based in Toronto, Cordelio is 100% owned by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board created in 1997 and today has about $537bn in assets.