Gamesa’s decision brings an end to a process that begun in February when the two companies announced they had signed a memorandum of understanding.
The deal would have seen the two companies jointly marketing and developing offshore services and products. There is also a possibility that Gamesa would have manufactured Bard wind turbines under license.
However, there have been rumours in the industry at the end of May that negotiations between the two were going awry.
Insiders have said Gamesa was put off after analysing Bard's finances. Both companies declined to comment on this.
Calvet confirms Gamesa plans to build an offshore turbine factory. "Given national target to reach 30GW offshore by 2020, the obvious choice is the UK, where we are carrying out conversations with the authorities," he says, declining to offer further detail.
Giving its reasons for the collapse of the deal, Gamesa said: "During the course of the negotiations and detailed study of the potential transaction both parts have found a significant discrepancy in the terms of the deal."
Gamesa said it is now developing a 5MW and a 6/7MW offshore turbine product, which will be ready in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
Gamesa has previously dabbled in offshore but to little effect. In 2007, the company pulled out of an offshore wind development joint venture, Ceowind, then describing the offshore segment as a mere "niche".
More recently, insiders have expressed surprise at Gamesa’s exclusion from Emerge, an offshore R&D project to develop floating turbine technology for deep waters. Emerge is led by Iberdrola Renovables, the world’s top wind operator and Gamesa’s biggest client and shareholder.
Instead, the turbine manufacturing partner in the project is Gamesa's competitor the Alstom-owned Ecotècnia.
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