Profits soar for top wind turbine maker

Denmark-based Vestas, the world's top wind turbine maker, reaped a 201m euro profit last year after a significant rise in sales, according to the company's latest annual report.


In a marked improvement on 2005 when Vestas ended the year with a 116m euro loss, 2006 brought a year-round profit after sales of wind turbines rose by 7.5% on the previous year. The company put the commercial success down to the prominence climate change issues have had worldwide.

Sales for 2006 reached 3.85bn euros, and would have climbed even higher had components always been readily available, the company said.

“Together with its suppliers, Vestas still faces a large challenge to secure components in the right quality and delivered on time, which means that Vestas today has a significant unexploited production capacity,” the company said.

It will take “a few years” before the wind power industry could meet global demand, it said, as supplies of turbine components still have to catch up with demand before Vestas can function at full steam.

Last year saw Vestas supply wind turbines totalling 4,239MW in capacity. Despite representing a 1,054MW or 33% increase on 2005, this left the company’s global market share unchanged at 28%.

The company, which already operates plants in Denmark, Germany, India, Italy, Britain, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Australia and China, plans to open a new blade and assembly factory in Tianjin, China, in 2008 to meet Chinese demand for its products.

Goska Romanowicz

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe