Vestas Wind Systems’ net income increased 70 percent to 56 million euros from the year-earlier quarter as revenue grew to 1.1 billion euros, up 58 percent, in the first quarter of 2009.

Vestas said the outlook for this year was unchanged. Vestas stuck to its outlook for 2009 sales of 7.2 billion euros and an operating profit margin of between 11 percent and 13 percent. However, the world’s top wind turbine manufacturer said it was cutting 1,900 jobs in production units in Europe, mainly in Denmark and the U.K., while it continues to expand operations in the U.S. and China.

“As Vestas no longer believes that the North European markets in the years ahead will be able to absorb the capacity released, as a result of the U.S. expansion, Vestas is unfortunately compelled to reduce production capacity in Northern Europe,” the company said in a statement.

“Sentiment in the market is picking up in the U.S. and in China,” CEO Ditlev Engel told CNBC.

“We’re hearing a lot of bad news on the industry, but it looks like the renewables industry is having somewhat of a different life than what you see in the credit situation.”

Engel declined to comment on specific orders, but said the market was starting to unfreeze, especially in North America. He said he anticipated signing new orders in the U.S., without elaborating.