Gamesa lands 3 Spanish windfarm projects

AMPUDIA, SPAIN - Spanish renewable energy company Gamesa Corporation SA has landed a contract to build three windfarms in the town of Ampudia in the province of Palencia in northern Spain.

The contract has been awarded by Esquilvent, a wind power developer based in Castile-Leon, and the three windfarms will have a combined generating capacity of 140.6 megawatts MW. The contract covers the windfarms' electrical installations, civil engineering and the supply, assembly, installation, start-up and maintenance of 75 Gamesa G90 turbines. On completion, Gamesa will operate the facility and provide maintenance services for a five-year period. No financial details were released.

The Gamesa G90 turbines are rated at 2 MW and have a rotor diameter of 90 metres. They are specifically designed for use in low-wind locations.

Work will start on the windfarms immediately, with Gamesa confident that the farms will be completed by the end of this year and in the first quarter of 2011.

Gamesa was previously contracted by the same group for the installation of 62 MW of generation capacity spread between two windfarms in Valladolid, also in the Castile-Leon region. Both farms are under construction. Gamesa is expected to announce further deals with the group.

To date, Gamesa has installed more than 2,500 MW of capacity in the Castile-Leon region, 350 MW of which it has developed itself. In the past 15 years, Gamesa has installed more than 18,000 MW of power in 20 countries, on four continents.

In May this year, Gamesa signed an exclusive 10-year supply agreement with wind and solar power developer Cannon Power Group to supply wind turbines for a series of windfarms in the Aubanel Wind Project, located in Mexico's Baja California region. The project will eventually have a capacity of 1,000 MW, but the first phase, which will begin construction within the year, will have an installed capacity of between 70 MW and 100 MW.