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Spanish engineering firm MTorres is hoping to soon start series production of its direct-drive wind turbine design. Claiming "high interest" from prospective customers, MTorres is developing its own wind plants to give the machine a commercial head start and provide a showcase. The company claims to have clinched a 25 MW development concession in the province of Soria in Castile and León region, just 100 kilometres from MTorres' home base in Navarra. "We do not aim to challenge turbine market leaders in terms of quantity but in terms of quality," says the company's Eduardo Torres. The Torres Wind Turbine 1650 (TWT-1650) is an extension of the company's three existing prototypes rated at 1.5 MW, also without gear boxes. The first has been running for over two years. Two prototypes of the new 1650 kW model, equipped with 35 metre blades, are in operation and another four are on the way. The aim is to test a rotor with 45 metre blades, also with a carbon fibre spar. Torres says the turbine can ride-through grid faults and provide the grid with needed reactive power, operational requirements increasingly considered as vital by Spain's grid operator, Red Eléctrica de España.