Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has secured an agreement with Nexif Energy to service turbines from insolvent OEM Senvion in South Australia.

The deal for the maintenance of the 126MW first stage of the 212MW Lincoln Gap wind farm follows up on the acquisition completed in January by rival Siemens Gamesa of Senvion’s 9GW European service fleet.

With profit margins for the sale of wind turbines shrinking amid a fierce price pressure, wind OEMs are in a race to secure multi-brand servicing contracts that currently grant them much higher returns of above 20% when measured as the margin of earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit margin).

“Multibrand service deals like Lincoln Gap demonstrate how Vestas can leverage our market experience, broad service solutions capability and extensive supply chain to provide value for our customers throughout the wind farm lifecycle - whether that is for service on Vestas turbines or third party machines,” said Vestas Asia Pacific President Clive Turton.

The Australian service contract is for 35 of Senvion’s M140 3.6MW machines, and will start immediately. With the agreement, Vestas is now servicing over 230MW of Senvion turbines in Australia.

“Following Senvion’s insolvency, Nexif Energy stepped in to oversee completion of construction, and with stage one now operating, and maintenance and performance in the hands of a leading industry services provider - Vestas, Nexif Energy is well positioned to complete stage two and move forward with implementation of our expansion plans,” Nexif Energy founder and co-chief executive Matthew Bartley said.