Government gives go-ahead for Dutch utility Nuon to buy Spain's Abengoa wind division

The sale by Spanish engineering giant Abengoa of its wind division, Desarrollos Eólicos (DESA), to Dutch water and electricity utility Nuon has finally been given the go-ahead by the Spanish government. The EUR 169 million deal ran into trouble immediately after it was sealed in October (“uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç, December 2001) for possibly breaching a law which prohibits foreign companies from entering liberalised Spanish sectors without establishing reciprocity guarantees. The government cleared the deal on the grounds that it produced "no significant impact" given that "the installed or authorised capacity by Nuon España SL, represents a very reduced proportion of total mainland installed capacity and of total installed wind plant capacity." Nevertheless, the Spanish wind industry is bracing itself for aggressive action from Nuon, which has inherited 130 MW in on-line capacity -- mostly from old machines. Nuon also claims a further 620 MW in advanced developments from DESA together with 500 MW in the pipeline.