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A Spanish conglomeration of investors and industrial companies has sealed a technology transfer agreement to manufacture France's only utility grade turbine, the Jeumont 750 kW J-48 direct drive machine. The deal was done by the group, General Eólica Aragonesa (GEA), with Jeumont Industrie affiliate Frances Framatometo. GEA aims to supply its own wind developments in Aragón and the rest of the Spanish market, except Galicia. This is the only region not covered by the agreement. The deal grants non-exclusive rights to sell Jeumont technology all over the world, except in France and China.

GEA says it has nearly completed the first J-48 turbine, which it hopes to install in the summer for wind plant developer CEASA as part of its Borja plant (page 10). GEA says Jeumont will also collaborate in developing a larger version, the J-52, to make best use of the Aragón winds. The group hopes to have a prototype J-52 running by the end of the year and claims that it has received queries on the technology from developers outside Aragón, including Almería, the Canaries and Cantabria.

The core of GEA consists of seven industrial companies which will provide all the hardware, services and know-how for manufacturing the turbine. At the same time, GEA is behind a 395 MW strategic wind development plan for Aragón. Indirectly, the group is behind a further 315 MW, mostly via developer Aprovechamientos Eólicos SA, which has a joint venture with utility Endesa for projects totalling 163 MW. One of the companies that makes up GEA, Collarada de Energíais, is developing 80 MW with Endesa, with the remaining 72 MW to be developed by a partnership of three GEA members.

GEA is building both a turbine assembly unit and a wind plant maintenance centre in Aragón, investing ESP 134 million (EUR 805,000) in the area as part of its pact with the regional government.