Vestas restarts production at Colorado plant, lands biggest order yet

The Vestas Americas wind turbine blade plant in Windsor, Colo., has restarted production after work halted earlier this year due to the global recession, a company spokesman said.

And the Danish parent company — Vestas Wind Systems A/S, which trades on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange at symbol VWS — announced it has signed the largest single order in company history.

Vestas said it had signed a "Master Supply Agreement" to build, deliver and maintain wind turbines capable of producing up to 1,500 megawatts of power in 2011 and 2012. The order includes an option for expansion to another 600 megawatts that can be exercized in 2010 and 2011, Vestas said.

The order came from EDP Renováveis (EDPR), the world's third-largest wind power company and owner of Horizon Wind Energy, after a competitive bidding process, Vestas said. EDPR is the renewable energy branch of EDP-Energías de Portugal, one of Europe's main electricity utilities.

The order calls for the wind turbines to be delivered to projects in Europe, North and South America.

It's too early to tell whether Vestas' manufacturing plants in Colorado will be involved in filling the order, Vestas spokesman Andrew Longeteig, based in Portland, Ore., said in an email.

Read more details of this announcement in the Denver Business Journal.