An international IPP has now signed a contract with the Nordex Group for PTC qualifying components corresponding to a value of 32 million U.S. Dollars. The total volume of the customer's upcoming U.S. projects, based on this contract, is expected to equate to 15 times the total value of the agreement. The manufacturer has already begun execution of the order, featuring the AW3000 turbine. This ensures that the customer can obtain the full tax benefit for its wind farms according to the "safe harbor" terms by achieving commercial operation until 2020. In the U.S. the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires wind energy projects to begin in 2016 and to be placed in service in order to qualify for the full Production Tax Credit (PTC) of 2.3 cents per kWh. However, most of execution of the order is expected to take place in 2018. "A low cost of energy is the key to the success of a project. Apart from the continuous increase in the efficiency of our turbines, basically we therefore help our customers obtain the best possible tax benefit for their projects – as in the present case with the safe harbor solution where we have guaranteed that our customer can obtain the maximum PTC rate," says CSO Sales & Marketing Patxi Landa.