Spanish utility Iberdrola to take on 300 MW of projects across Italy and France

Spanish utility Iberdrola has signed a purchase option agreement for projects totalling 300 MW to be developed across Italy and France by Germany's P&T Technology. The agreement includes the immediate handover of 32 MW scheduled for building this July in the French department of Morbihan in southern Brittany. For this first phase of the deal, the utility says it has already placed the turbine order with Vestas of Denmark. The manufacturer will supply 15, 2 MW machines and two, 850 kW machines to four neighbouring sites located across the communes of Kergrist, Meneac and Mohon. The projects were the first developed in France by P&T. Commissioning is scheduled for December 2005 and the utility's French affiliate -- Iberdrola Energies Renouvelables SAS, based in Rennes -- will operate the plant. The longer term 100 MW purchase option in France is phased to end-year 2008 while the transfer of rights over the 200 MW in Italy has a December 2007 deadline. Given fierce competition among wind project developers in both countries, Iberdrola is keeping exact project locations close to its chest. The deal with P&T comes as part of Iberdrola's bid to boost its online wind capacity from 3000 MW at present to 5500 MW by 2008. Iberdrola and P&T have been developing projects jointly since 2003 in the Andalucía region of Spain, where they recently landed grid concessions totalling 171 MW. P&T develops and finances wind projects and claims to have built 316 MW worldwide. The company trades on the Frankfurt stock exchange.