Vestas secures first order from German auction round four

Vestas has received its first order from Germany’s fourth wind energy auction, only five weeks after the auction results were announced in February. Underlining Vestas’ ability to work closely with each individual customer to optimise their projects for competitive auctions, the order is placed by long-standing customer ABO Wind and includes six V136-3.45 MW turbines. The project is located in Arzfeld in the South-Western part of Germany and has gained strong local support through a revenue sharing agreement between citizens and municipality.

The fast translation from auction results into order intake is the result of the close collaboration between Vestas and ABO Wind, that included applying Vestas’ value engineering approach to all project phases – from siting support to transport and construction – which optimises chances for auction success.

Our value engineering approach enables us to find levers to optimise customers’ business case for each individual project, which make a large difference in Germany’s auctions. This order underlines the strength of our value engineering and I am delighted to see that ABO Wind trusts Vestas with the implementation of their auction project.”, states Nils de Baar, President Vestas Northern & Central Europe.

The project is part of a broader framework contract between ABO Wind and Vestas and includes a 20-year Active Output Management 5000 (AOM 5000) service agreement. Turbine delivery is expected in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Speaking to the significant benefits the Arzfeld project will provide the region, Dr. Thomas Treiling, ABO Wind’s Head of Planning in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, says “The sites used for the construction of the turbines are owned by around 65 local citizens. A pool concept divides the revenues fairly among them. Based on a solidarity agreement, every village in the municipality receives payments, even if there are no wind turbines on their land. The local authorities have supported our wind farm planning in an outstanding manner”.