Gamesa, Iberdrola and Acciona are some of the Spanish companies that have strengthened their positions on the global wind market. Last week, Spain announced a project that will secure its role as the front runner in the renewable energy sector.
The project consists of a 15 MW offshore wind turbine built with in-house made components and making use only of Spanish labor and research activities. This means that no less than 22 research facilities and 11 companies will work under the command of turbine designer and manufacturer Gamesa.
Currently, the largest offshore projects under development are Clipper’s 10-MW machine and American Superconductor’s turbine, having the same capacity. As far as the onshore projects goes ahead, Enercon built the E-126 whose capacity increased from 6 to 7 MW, and the company is rumored to have been testing an 8 MW onshore turbine.
The Spanish 15 MW giant is only in the initial planning phase with the expectancy that the technical groundwork will be laid by 2013. If everything goes as planned, the turbine will hopefully be on the market by 2020.
Spaint already has a healthy wind industry and Spanish companies have something to say about the growth of the U.S. and European markets. Other Spanish companies, which are also part of the big project, are: Alstom Wind, Técnicas Reunidas, Ingeteam, Ingeciber, Imatia, Tecnitest Ingenieros and DIgSILENT Ibérica.
Enercon’s E-126 turbine can be seen in the following video. To get an idea of how the 15 MW turbine will be, just imagine doubling the capacity.
