European business news in short

French company, SUEZ, has won two major contracts worth €2 billion. The first is an energy contract in New Caledonia and comprises the design, construction, and operation of a 100 MW power plant – the largest of its kind in the province. The second contract is in the water sector, and is for the design, financing and operation for 50 years of all liquid waste flow facilities in the new Shanghai petrochemical industrial park, in China.

Vivendi Environment’s subsidiary, USFilter, has announced that it has won the largest US municipal outsourcing water contract – worth US$1.5 million – with the City of Indianapolis, to manage the city’s drinking water waterworks system under a 20-year public-private partnership. According to Vivendi, this move marks the largest public-private partnership for water services in the US.

Meanwhile, Danish wind company, Vestas, has announced that a new V80-2.0 MW wind turbine will be erected at the Horns Rev site in the North Sea from April to September.

Dutch water company, WL, has announced that it has been awarded a project by a number of organisations involved in water management in Brabant and Limburg. In co-operation with TNO, the company will be researching the relationship between water storage, flooding and management of weirs.