CHICAGO, April 19, 2005 — Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation has signed an agreement to provide 31 wind turbines, totaling 39 megawatts of capacity, for projects financed by John Deere for sites located in Minnesota and Texas. The wind power projects, which are scheduled to be operating by December 31, 2005, follow an earlier effort by Suzlon and John Deere in U.S. wind energy that was successfully launched in 2004.
“Suzlon is pleased to be signing these projects, and especially thrilled to build on our relationship with such a well-respected company as John Deere,” said Andris Cukurs, CEO North America for the Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. “We strongly believe
Suzlon’s products and superior customer service contributed to John Deere as a repeat customer,” he added.
In Texas, Suzlon is providing 24 units of the S64, 1.25-megawatt wind turbine on 73-meter towers for three separate projects that feature eight turbines per project. When completed in December 2005 the entire site will total 30 megawatts of wind power capacity.
For the southwest Minnesota projects, Suzlon is providing seven S64 turbines on 73-meter towers for a total capacity of 8.75 megawatts. The projects will be located on the popular Buffalo Ridge and developed by Dave Norgaard, a farmer and wind power developer based in Tyler, Minnesota. The local owners are affectionately titling the projects with names like Breezy Bucks, Salty Dog, Roadrunner and Wally’s Wind Farm.
“We are first-time developers, so we were looking for trusted partners who were going to provide a lot of support and guidance throughout the process. We found that with the team of Suzlon and John Deere,” said Dave Norgaard, a wind power developer based in Tyler, Minnesota. “A few of us are already talking about the next phase of development and the Suzlon 2-megawatt machine, which is being used in our current production models, looks like it could be an excellent option,” he added.
Suzlon entered the U.S. market in 2003 with its first wind power projects located in Southwest Minnesota which features 12 separate sites of approximately two megawatts each. The collective wind turbines were developed by Dan Juhl, and include sites near Brewster, Woodstock and Pipestone, Minnesota. After the wind power projects were completed in 2004, John Deere took ownership of the wind turbines in Brewster, while Edison Mission (formerly known as Edison Capital) purchased the turbines in Woodstock and Pipestone.
When Suzlon established itself in the U.S. market as a wind energy company, it was ranked number 10 as an international supplier, according to BTM Consult, an established wind energy research firm. Recently, Suzlon expanded its sales and services offices to the U.S., Australia and China, and opened its international business headquarters in Aarhus, Denmark in order to capture a growing share of the wind energy market. The 2005 BTM Consult World Market Report, which was released in late March, reports that Suzlon has improved its market position to number six for the year 2004. This report is in line with Suzlon’s stated expectation and goal to be one of the five largest international suppliers of wind turbines by the year 2008.
Suzlon Energy is a fully integrated international wind power company and ranks among the top six in the world. Suzlon integrates consultancy, design, manufacturing, operation and maintenance services to provide customers with total wind power solutions. Its growth is based on a vision of creating world-class products by adopting the best aspects of wind energy from around the globe, which is why Suzlon has a subsidiary in Germany for technology development, an R&D facility in the Netherlands for rotor blade molding and tooling, and wind turbine and rotor blade manufacturing facilities in India. All this is backed up by stringent international quality control and assurance systems like ISO 9001:2000 and Type certification.
About Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation
Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation, which focuses on the North American market, is a subsidiary of Suzlon Energy A/S of Aarhus, Denmark. The headquarters for North America is based in Chicago, Illinois, and features sales and service offices located throughout the U.S.
