Gamesa in the offshore market

Gamesa, a global leader in wind energy technology, is ready to play a significant role in the offshore wind market.

The company is working on the design and development of two offshore turbines families (G11X-5.0 MW and G14X-7.0 MW), based on the proven multi-MW technology validated on the G10X-4.5 MW platform, to participate in planned offshore wind power development in the North Sea in the coming years.

The G128-5.0 MW turbine will be equipped with a 128m rotor diameter and a modular and redundant design that will enable partial load operations while guaranteeing reliability and maximising energy production.

Gamesa intends to choose United Kingdom as the worldwide centre of its offshore wind energy business, with investments up to 150 million euros there by 2014.

This strategy settles on: 

• Gamesa plans the construction of a blade manufacturing plant (location, under study) in United Kingdom and engaging in offshore logistics from a number of UK ports, around which it will locate its wind turbine O&M operations;
• Aditionally, Gamesa has set up its offshore technology centre in Glasgow, Scotland. The new centre employs more than 45 engineers. Work at the Technology Centre is dedicated to the design and development of the company's offshore wind platform G14X-7.0 MW;
• The global headquarters of the Gamesa's offshore division are based in London. The London office also handles sales, project management, finance and administration for the offshore business.

Gamesa estimates that the construction and development of its offshore wind business in the United Kingdom will create over 1,000 direct jobs and another 800 indirect jobs at local suppliers.

Gamesa also establishes a sales office in Hamburg to attend to projects under development in Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium.

Offshore development in other markets

The company is working in partnership with Newport News Shipbuilding, a leading US-based defence company and the No. 1 shipbuilding firm in the United States, to develop the first offshore prototype of the Gamesa G11X-5.0 MW. On 10 February 2011, both companies launched an offshore wind technology center  in Chesapeake, Virginia (USA).

In Spain, the company has signed a framework technology cooperation agreement with the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC), in order to reserve four spaces at IREC's offshore wind energy laboratory, ZÈFIR Test Station in Tarragona (Catalonia), for the subsequent installation of Gamesa turbines.  

Likewise, Gamesa coordinates Azimut. Offshore Wind Energy 2020 project, partnering with 10 other companies and 22 research centres specialising in offshore wind energy technologies. The project aims to generate the know-how required to develop a large-scale marine wind turbine (15 MW) using 100% Spanish technology.