Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA, the Spain’s biggest wind-turbine maker, has been selected to supply a unit of Iberdrola Renovables SA with 129 turbines for nine forthcoming new wind farms in Brazil, a regional wind energy hotspot.
Under the contract, the company will construct, transport and erect the turbines during the preliminary phase of the projects in 2011 and 2012.
Gamesa, which recently set up a subsidiary in the Brazilian industrial city of Sao Paolo, plans to build a factory in the country to supply the turbines.
The deal is the company’s first foray in Brazil. The turbine manufacturer hopes expanding into the fast-growing emerging market will be the answer to its financial problems. Gamesa has watched its stock lose more than half of its value so far in 2010 as a slowdown in business forced it to trim its Spanish workforce by 8% earlier this year. The company has taken serious hits because of the global slump in the wind industry caused by the recession and credit crunch.
Gamesa hopes its extensive experience in other parts of Latin America will prove an asset in Brazil. According to analysts at London-based Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the South American nation’s investment in new turbines will increase by some 40% annually over the next three years.
While preparing for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil is focusing on becoming cleaner and greener. Last year, 47.2% of energy consumed in Brazil was from renewable sources, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics.
