Danish wind energy business Vestas says it has become the first company to install 100 gigawatts (GW) of wind turbines.



In an announcement Wednesday, the firm said it reached the milestone in late 2018, when it installed a V110-2.0 MW turbine at MidAmerican Energy's Wind XI project in Iowa. The Wind XI facility is set to have a capacity of 2,000 MW and will be made up of "multiple sites in Iowa."



Vestas installed its first turbine, in Denmark, in 1979. It has gone on to install more than 66,000 in roughly 80 countries. The company's biggest turbine is currently the V150-4.2 MW.



The Vestas CEO, Anders Runevad, said in a statement Wednesday that reaching the 100 GW milestone had "required continuous innovation, strong commitment and great execution from all Vestas' employees."



The wind industry added more than 52 GW of new wind power in 2017, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.



China maintained its position as a wind energy powerhouse, installing 19.7 GW, while the European Union added 15.6 GW of capacity. The U.S. installed a little over 7 GW of capacity.