The contract comprises a full engineering procurement construction contract, a twelve-year service agreement and a VestasOnline® Business SCADA solution for each wind farm. The first wind turbines are expected on site at the end of 2010, and the whole wind power project is expected to be fully installed by the third quarter of 2011.
The order has been placed by Cabeólica SA, a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Government of Cape Verde, the governmental owned utility company Electra, InfraCo, a privately managed donor-funded infrastructure development company, Africa Finance Corporation, a Pan-African development finance institution and Finnfund, a Finish development finance company.
“We are very proud of having Vestas as our technology provider. Vestas has consistently shared with us its immense know-how and experience to support our efforts in creating a highly customised technical solution for the country. We strongly believe in this partnership approach and hope to build upon this experience. In addition to the full EPC role, we welcome Vestas as a long-time service provider for the project as we feel confident they share our values and will ensure we will enjoy a successful long-term wind farm operation in Cape Verde,” says Fabio D. Borba, CEO of Cabeólica.
“We are extremely proud of this order which will be the very first Vestas wind power plant in Cape Verde. This project, which will cover approx 20-25 per cent of Cape Verde’s energy demand, clearly proves the high level of wind energy penetration in the country bringing Cape Verde into the spotlight in the whole African continent. We look forward to supporting the development of wind power in Cape Verde and maintaining a fruitful and long-term relationship with Cabeólica. Our technology seeks to maximize value for our customer through low cost energy, business case certainty and being easy-to-work-with,” says Mario de Gaviria, Vestas’ Deputy General Manager in Portugal.
“Vestas is a leading wind energy company with 30 years of experience and this contract is evidence that we are a reliable and trustworthy wind technology partner,” says Juan Araluce, President of Vestas Mediterranean. “Cape Verde has a huge unexploited wind potential and we believe that wind energy can play a significant role in diversifying the energy mix and meeting the growing electricity demand in Cape Verde,” he concludes.
The Cabeólica wind power plant will generate approx 120,000 MWh saving the environment from almost 46,000 tons of CO2 on an annual basis.
Vestas Mediterranean is one of the seven Sales Business Units in the Vestas Group and it manages all sales, construction and service operations in the countries of the Mediterranean area, Middle East, Latin America, Caribbean as well as approx 70 per cent of the African continent. As of 30 June 2010, this Sales Business Unit delivered a cumulative capacity of 9,200 MW, representing 23 per cent of Vestas’ global capacity.
From Vestas Mediterranean’s headquarters in Madrid, we operate the Vestas Mediterranean Control Centre, consisting of a Performance and Diagnostic Service for preventive maintenance and a 24/7 Surveillance for reactive maintenance of almost 4,000 wind turbines in the Mediterranean area. In addition, we have established the Vestas Mediterranean Training Centre in la Muela, Zaragoza, Spain, where our technicians working on turbines throughout the entire Mediterranean region receive training on the latest technologies and working procedures on a regular basis.
In the Mediterranean region, Vestas has six production facilities in Italy and Spain with a total workforce of 2,900 highly skilled and fully committed employees. Besides, we have established a new Vestas Spare Parts & Repair facility in Vilafranca del Penedès, close to Barcelona, Spain for service and repair of wind turbine main components, which serves the entire European market.
