Big orders lead to local assembly -- Nordex matches into Spain

Construction on Nordex Ibérica's first turbine assembly plant in Spain has finally started. The shift in gear comes at a time when the company is hoping to have sealed turbine supply contracts for 196 MW and letters of intent for at least another 350 MW. With just 15 MW on-line since 1999, the jump is largely down to developments in Castile la Mancha -- wind's fastest growing region in 2000. The assembly plant is to turn out turbines from September.

1 May 2001

Hoping to have sealed turbine supply contracts for 196 MW and letters of intent for at least a further 350 MW, Nordex Ibérica has finally shifted into top gear in the Spanish wind market. Construction on the company's first turbine assembly plant in Spain has started.

With just 15 MW on-line since 1999, Nordex Ibérica's sudden spring-boarding onto the Spanish market is largely down to developments in Castile la Mancha -- wind's fastest growing region in 2000 -- though 15, 1300 kW machines are also going to Aragón. Furthermore, the company is shortlisted to supply 48 MW for a project in Catalonia (�u�X��ʘ��, October 2000) and also has letters of intent with developers for 190 MW bound for Castile and Leon. Nordex is promising jobs in the region in an agreement with the local government, if the developments go ahead.

Nordex Ibérica's first assembly plant is strategically located in the Munera district of Albacete province, 200 kilometres south-east of Madrid in the region of Castilla la Mancha. The construction start came after Nordex clinched a contract to supply 185, N50-800 kW turbines to developer Sinae. The turbine factory is only the second to go up in Castile la Mancha -- following the inauguration of Enron Wind's production facility last year.

Nordex sources estimate overall investment in the facility at ESP 400 million (EUR 2.4 million) and claim it will directly employ 45 locals. With towers coming from Emypisa, a regional boilermaker, Nordex meets the regional investment and job creation demands of Castile la Mancha's strategic wind plan. The factory is to turn out turbines from September.

Nordex's contract with Sinae is to supply the first 150 MW of the developer's 600 MW strategic wind plan for Castile la Mancha. The contract emerged earlier this year from a framework agreement after Sinae got the go-ahead for four developments in Bonillo, El Gramal, La Cabaña and Portachuelo, all in Albacete. Overall investment in the 150 MW is estimated at ESP 22.2 billion.

Company sources also confirm that Nordex has clinched letters of intent with two other developers in Castile la Mancha region. WindSolar, an affiliate of Germany company Energiekontor, has ordered "between 30 and 50" N-80, 2.5 MW turbines, while Japanese Mitsui has ordered "around 27" 1.5 MW machines. Furthermore, Nordex is negotiating to supply 80 MW to developer Forlasa.

In Aragón, Nordex Ibérica has started work on what it claims to be "the first implementation of a wind farm with turbines larger than 1 MW in Spain." Nordex will supply 15, N62/1300 kW turbines to the 21 MW El Águila wind plant in Zaragoza province, Aragón, in a turnkey contract that covers everything from access routes to the installation of a 3.5 kilometre overhead line. This, Nordex's second contract in the region, is with developer Desarrollos Eólicos Águila SA, a joint venture between Cinergy Global Power and a local Spanish investment company, Jorge SA. The same partnership also developed the MW El Jalón wind plant, which brought 25 Nordex 600 kW turbines on-line in 1999.