Wind Turbine Manufacturer Partners with John Deere Co.

April 21, 2005

Rolling Meadows, Illinois [RenewableEnergyAccess.com]

India's wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon is taking wind farming to a new level by partnering with one of the most recognizable names in the U.S. agricultural industry, the John Deere Co.

Suzlon signed an agreement to provide 31 wind turbines, totaling 39 MW of capacity, for projects financed by John Deere for sites located in Minnesota and Texas.

The move is viewed as a way to gain trust from America's heartland where there are considerable opportunities for wind power developments.

In Texas, Suzlon is providing three projects with a total of 24 units of
the S64, a 1.25 MW wind turbine. Each project will have eight turbines
installed on 73-meter towers. When completed in December 2005 the entire site will total 30 MW 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 MW. 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 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 entered the U.S. market in 2003 with its first wind power projects located in Southwest

Minnesota, which features 12 separate sites of approximately 2 MW each. The collective of 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.

Suzlon is a vertically integrated wind-power company, offering consultancy, design, manufacturing, operation, and maintenance services to provide customers with total wind power solutions.

More on Deere from Crain's Chicago Business newsroom...

Deere entering wind power biz
From the Crain's Chicago Business Newsroom July 28 14:22:00, 2005 By Sandra Jones
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Deere & Co., the world’s largest maker of farm equipment, has formed a separate unit to get into the business of turning wind power into energy.

The Moline-based company has spent $8 million so far this year in wind energy projects in Minnesota and Texas. It plans to invest a total of $60 million by the end of this year, a spokesman says.

Deere’s wind energy group, a unit of John Deere Credit, will provide project development, debt financing and other services to help farmers harvest the wind. Unlike the larger wind energy farms in the western U.S, Deere plans to work with smaller farmers to aggregate and sell the power.

“We’re taking a different model,” says a Deere spoksman. “How can the smaller producer benefit? This is good for the economy of farmers because it gives them a steady stream of income.”

The amount of electricity generated by wind power is forecast to increase to 100,000 megawatts by 2020 from 7,000 megawatts in 2004, the company says, citing industry experts.

The growing demand for electricity has prompted deep-pocketed investors such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to get into wind energy financing as well. The bank has invested an estimated $400 million in seven wind farms and is expected to bank roll another handful this year. (Crain’s 3-21-05) Related story from Crain's Chicago Business: WIND power: From hot air to real deal?

Deere is looking into projects in Canada and Europe as well, the spokesman says. It has no plans to manufacture wind turbines.

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