Deutsche Windtechnik Reaches Another Milestone in US Business
Houston, USA / Bremen, Germany - The independent service provider Deutsche Windtechnik has signed a long-term service agreement for five more U.S. wind farms with new wind turbine technology. With this, the independent service provider has again reached an important milestone.
Windtechnik takes over maintenance of Mitsubishi wind turbines for the first time
In October 2020, Deutsche Windtechnik expands its global service portfolio in the field of wind turbine service for the first time to include turbines from Mitsubishi. The agreement between affiliates of the U.S. operating company Leeward Renewable Energy LLC and Deutsche Windtechnik Inc. (USA) comprises a total portfolio of 564 wind turbines (WTGs). The contract encompasses almost half of all Mitsubishi 1000 and Mitsubishi 1000A wind turbines installed in the USA. The turbines are located at the five Leeward wind farms Caprock and Aragonne Mesa (both New Mexico), Buena Vista (California), Sweetwater (Texas) and Cedar Creek (Colorado). With a total capacity of 336 megawatts (MW), the Sweetwater and Cedar Creek projects are the largest of the five sites.
By integrating the new technology into the range of products offered by Deutsche Windtechnik, the Bremen-based company can further expand its market presence in the USA. "These new agreements are an important milestone for our U.S. business unit as we continue to expand our service into new states. At the same time, we are delighted to be entrusted with a new wind turbine technology on such a large scale," said Melf Lorenzen, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Windtechnik Inc., underlining the significance of the agreement with Leeward for the entire Deutsche Windtechnik Group.
Agreement creates need for new service stations and additional employees
Over a period of two months, Deutsche Windtechnik will gradually assume responsibility for the new sites in the USA, starting with the Sweetwater 4A wind farm (Texas). Deutsche Windtechnik expects that the agreement with Leeward will drive growth for the company in the USA. This will be accompanied by the establishment of new service offices, the need for a broader stock of tooling and service vehicles and the recruitment of more than 115 new employees. In particular, the technical team is to be expanded, but employees in operational management and administration are also to be hired, according to Deutsche Windtechnik. In order to ensure smooth operations in the new wind farms, the service infrastructure for the five wind farms will be further developed and expanded in close cooperation with Leeward Renewable Energy.
Leeward Renewable Energy as operator and Deutsche Windtechnik as independent service provider have been working together for some time. In 2019, the two companies signed a service agreement for 81 Siemens 2.3 turbines in Texas. Prior to being awarded the contract for operation and maintenance (O&M) of these sites in May 2020, Deutsche Windtechnik's team of specialists successfully carried out a series of borescope inspections on the main bearings of seven Mitsubishi 1000 turbines.
Source: IWR Online, 08 Oct 2020
