Technology

The wind farm development division of Gamesa has announced the signing of two new agreements in China to develop, alongside local partners, a total of 600 MW of wind projects. The agreements will see Gamesa deliver G9X-2.0 MW wind turbines over the next five years.

GE’s wind power division has signed a ten-year contract with Spanish wind developer Cobra Energía, a subsidiary of the ACS construction group, to provide “advanced services” for 178 GE wind turbines installed at eight wind farms across Spain. The American multinational describes the agreement as “GE’s largest wind energy services contract in Europe”.

After a year of job lay-offs, wind turbine blade manufacturer, LM, is reclaiming its position in Spain through the opening of an industrial complex in the town of As Pontes in the province of A Coruña. The new facility of the Danish company – called LM Wind Power Service & Logistics – includes a blade repair facility and a logistics centre that will serve the area of "southern Europe”

The Basque multinational, which recently announced its "interest" in installing an offshore wind technology base in Glasgow, has said that it "has advanced its strategy to make the UK the core of its worldwide offshore wind business”. Gamesa reveals that this could represent an investment of €50 million and create 300 direct jobs. The company recognises that for now, everything hinges on "a final agreement on financing."

The Spanish multinational, which announced an order of 324 MW for Mexico a few weeks ago, says that it currently has agreements and/or orders of 740 MW in different Latin American countries. The Mexican order is the result of an agreement reached between Gamesa and Eolia Renovables for the turnkey construction of two wind farms in the state of Oaxaca.

Wind energy in Spain has reached a new peak instantaneous power output: 14,962 MW. The milestone came at almost exactly 14:46 on 9 November, surpassing the record set the previous day by 13.5%. That same day also saw maximum hourly and daily energy outputs being exceeded, with 14,752 MW and 315,258 MWh, respectively.

The Basque wind power technologist has reaffirmed its commitment to research and development “as one of its key strategies for forthcoming years” in a recent statement by its Communications Department. Gamesa intends to open five new centres in as many countries over the next six months; two of which will be devoted to offshore R&D.

Eleven companies, including leading players such as Iberdrola, Acciona, Gamesa and Alstom, along with a further 22 research centres, have joined forces on the Azimut Project. According to the wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa, which is acting as project coordinator, the aim of the initiative is to “generate the know-how required to develop a large-scale marine wind turbine [foreseeably 15 MW] using 100% Spanish technology”.

The Catalan project to build the first Spanish offshore wind farm – for testing and research purposes – is taking shape. The most recent step was the signing on 26 October of an agreement between the main project sponsor, the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), and Vortex, a Catalan company dedicated to wind modelling services.

The Gas Natural Renovables-Alstom Wind consortium has been awarded 456 of the 769 MW put out to tender. Comsa Emte Renovables–GERR Grupo Energético XXI, Fersa Energías Renovables–Aventalia Energies Renovables, and FCC Energia Catalunya have also been successful bidders. According to the Catalan government, an investment of €1.2 billion will be required to develop this wind capacity.