Availon, a multi-brand independent service provider for wind turbines, has announced the addition of a portfolio of 620MW of wind turbine generators under operation & maintenance (O&M) contracts during the year.
The contracts came from mature European markets such as Germany, Spain and Italy, which have a great number of wind farms coming out of warranty.
This year alone, Availon has added 390 wind turbine generators, a 20 percent growth from previous year.
Availon has been the first ISP able to offer full service O&M contract for Gamesa wind turbine technology in the world, the company said.
“What is really new here is that many of the newly contracted wind turbine generators have been manufactured by Gamesa. The capital we invested in building up a state-of-the-art expertise in Gamesa turbine technology is really paying off”, said CEO, Ulrich Schomakers.
A significant increase in new O&M contracts was also recorded for GE and Vestas turbines, which still make up for the majority of turbines under contract at Availon.
Further, the average age of turbines under contract has dropped because more and more wind farm owners decide to change from OEMs to Availon as soon as the warranty ends.
This trend is set to continue. MAKE Consulting forecasted a 10 percent growth, on average, per year, over the next six years in its Global Wind Turbine O&M 2014 report.
Rajani Baburajan