MHI has signed a substantial contract to supply 160 wind turbine generators, each with a rated output of 1,000 kW to the Brazos Windfarm, to be constructed in Texas (USA). This project is the largest such project for MHI with the total wind farm rated output at 160 MW, making it one of the world's largest. This order has sent the aggregate total of MHI's orders for wind turbine generator units above 1,500 units to 1,652 units. This wind farm will be constructed in the western part of Texas (Borden County and Scurry County), which is said to be an optimal location for wind power generation due to the constant winds throughout the year. A power purchase contract has been concluded with a local utility company to sell all of the generated electricity, equivalent to the power needs of 56,000 average households. These wind turbine generators being delivered are MHI's newly developed "MWT-1000A" type, which applies a newly designed blade that is longer than the existing unit to enable highly efficient power generation even in low winds.The new design may aid in generating as much as 15% more power annually. The rotor diameter is approximately 60m and the tower height is approximately 70m giving it a maximum height approaching 100m. The wind turbines and the control systems will be produced at MHI's Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works and the blades will be manufactured at VienTek, a blade manufacturing base established in Mexico last year as a joint venture with a U.S. firm. The field installation of the units will be handled by Texas Wind Power Company. The units are scheduled to start operating in December, this year. Shell WindEnergy Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of the Royal/Dutch Shell Group of Companies, owns fifty percent of this project. MHI has already delivered 130 wind power generation units to Shell WindEnergy Inc., and the high performance and reliability of those units led to MHI being awarded this order. Wind power generation, which has mainly being utilized in Europe and North America, is now increasingly being introduced around the world as an environmentally friendly energy that doesn't emit CO2 and other gasses. Presently there are roughly 61,000 units installed globally, of which total installed capacity is 32,000MW (as of the end of 2002). Since manufacturing its first wind turbine generator in 1980 (40kW unit) at the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, MHI has been supplying its wind turbine generators to clients in Japan and overseas. MHI is now positioned as the one and only world-class producer of large wind turbine generators in Japan. While MHI's orders surpassed 1,000 units cumulatively in 1998, the subsequent orders have expanded rapidly in recent years due to the global trend of constructing windfarms. Just last month, MHI received an order for 41 of the same 1,000kW units for an Oregon windfarm. The regional breakdown of the 1,652 units both ordered and delivered to date shows 131 for Japan, 1,389 for the U.S. and 132 for Europe and other regions. MHI will strengthen its marketing activities in Japan and overseas, focusing on the MWT-1000A as its mainstay unit for large windfarms. At the same time, MHI is striving to diversify its wind power business portfolio including, for example, development and introduction of a 2,000kW unit in April, this year. MHI intends to reinforce its wind power business in Japan and furthermore extend its business strategy to the European market, the world's largest windmill market, in addition to the U.S., the primary market of its current wind power business. This significant order is a major business development for MHI and showcases their competitive edge in wind power generation technology. The inclusion of this considerable order brings MHI closer to their next goal of surpassing accumulative sales of 2,000 units. *VienTek, LLC VienTek is the windblade manufacturing company established in March, 2002 as a joint venture company between Mitsubishi Power Systems Inc. (MPS), MHI's marketing and service arm in the U. S. and America's TPI Composites Inc. |
