The first Gamesa Premium Availability (GPA) units are to be installed in nine wind farms for French, Danish and Spanish clients in France and Spain with an aggregate capacity of 192MW.
Gamesa said the GPA was the result of two years’ work analysing and studying how to increase the availability of the company’s 2MW turbines with a view to making the G8X-2.0MW fleet and the G9X-2.0MW platform more competitive by boosting reliability and by improving service processes.
Gamesa claims that the GPA lowers wind farm operating costs by up to 10% and aims at making the turbines available 99% of the time.
The system is being built into all new Gamesa wind turbines and into the existing fleet through specific upgrade packages. Gamesa expects to have the GPA definitively certified by GH & DNV this autumn.
The Spanish turbine manufacturer has 14GW under O&M agreements for more than 130 customers worldwide and, by 2013, it aims to have cut its O&M expenses to such an extent that it will have lowered energy costs on its wind farms by 20%.
It is currently in dispute with its French O&M provider Windtechnics over alleged non-payment on contracts covering services for 336MW of installed capacity in France, Romania and Bulgaria.
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