This morning, Vestas Wind Systems A/S (Vestas) announced the establishment of a joint venture (JV) with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI), which is dedicated to offshore wind energy.
The establishment of this joint venture is a response by the two companies to the strong growth potential of the offshore wind market, for which their current levels of expertise within offshore wind turbines are being brought together.
“Vestas will transfer the development of the V164-8.0 MW, the V112 offshore order book, existing offshore service contracts and approx 300 employees to the JV. MHI will inject EUR 100m in cash into the JV and will inject another EUR 200m based on certain milestone achievements reflecting the natural early product life cycle of the V164 turbine. As part of the JV it has been agreed between the parties that Vestas is contracted by the JV to finalise the planned development of the V164-8.0 MW on behalf of the JV. In addition, Vestas and MHI will provide various services to the JV. The JV will start its business with the current V112 offshore and the V164-8.0 MW turbines. At a later stage, the JV will explore the possibilities of integrating the MHI hydraulic DDT technology into the 8 MW platform which would make the JV positioned to offer a product line-up variety that best suits customer demands,” Vestas said.
The joint venture will be headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark. Equity ownership ratios between the two companies will be 50:50, with an option for MHI to change the ownership ratio to 51 per cent for MHI and 49 per cent for Vestas in April 2016.
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Offshore WIND Staff, September 27, 2013; Image: Vestas