Vestas receives 373 MW order from Red Rocket in South Africa

March 14 -- Vestas has received a 373 MW order from power producer Red Rocket for the Brandvalley, Rietkloof and Wolf wind parks, to be located in Western Cape and Eastern Cape, South Africa.

The contract includes the supply and installation of 64 V150-4.5 MW wind turbines, 12 V163-4.5 MW wind turbines and five V162-6.2 MW Enventus wind turbines. Vestas will service the wind parks through a 15-year Active Output Management 5000 (AOM 5000) agreement.

Red Rocket’s CEO, Matteo Brambilla said: “Red Rocket has been investing and supporting South Africa’s electricity crisis for more than a decade and with a portfolio of more than 1,000 MW of wind, hydro and solar projects under development, in construction or in operation in the country.”

The order includes the first installations globally of the V163-4.5 MW wind turbine from Vestas’ 4 MW platform. Vestas’ V163-4.5 MW has a large rotor-size-to-rating ratio resulting in a higher capacity factor, enabling up to 10 percent higher Annual Energy Production at park level compared to the V150-4.5 MW depending on site-specific conditions.

“With three different wind turbine variants across platforms this order showcases that we are able to enhance the customer business case through optimizing the layout on each wind project site with Vestas’ flexible and diverse product portfolio,” says Malte Meyer, Vestas Sales & Business Development Senior Director, said.

Turbine delivery and commissioning are expected by 2024.

Vestas leads the South African wind power market with over 1.3 GW of capacity either installed or under construction. The company is committed to contribute to South Africa’s new renewable energy targets, which include reaching 17.7 GW of wind capacity by 2030 and increasing the presence of renewables in its energy mix from the current 11 percent to about 41 percent by 2030.