In addition to its renewable energy manufacturing activities, since 1995 Gamesa has also developed wind farms, enabling it to leverage its expertise in the areas of construction, development and sales.

By the end of 2010, Gamesa had completed over 170 wind farms in 11 countries, with a total installed capacity of 4,100 MW, and nowadays has a portfolio close to 24,500 MW in various stages of development in Europe, America and Asia.

Gamesa's wind farm development division undertakes all the activities associated with wind generation projects, including site identification, wind measurement, obtaining the necessary permits and licenses for wind farm construction and commissioning, final sale of wind farms, and operation and maintenance of operational farms.

The company's strategy in this segment is strengthening its position in areas with high energy consumption, expanding in emerging markets and obtaining new customers, steadily building out its portfolio (alone or through alliances with local partners) and rotation of assets (through recurring farm sales) depending on projects' earnings visibility and profitability and on the basis of the needs of its customers: large utilities that need to expand in new markets; local developers or industrial groups that need know-how and wish to share risks and funding in the process of wind farm development, and financial institutions seeking returns and experience in the sector.

 696 MW installed

The division was very active building and selling wind farms in 2010; it delivered a total of 593 MW.

In 2010, Gamesa completed the installation of a total of 26 wind farms with 696 MW of total installed capacity in Europe, the US, China and India; it also commenced construction of 767 MW.

More markets and new customers

During 2010, the wind farm development division expanded its geographical scope by developing its first farms in Poland, Mexico and India; it also expanded its customer base by selling farms to Edison, Ikea and RWE.

Gamesa continued to strengthen its presence in target markets where it has a long-standing presence, including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Greece, France, Bulgaria, Romania, Sweden, the UK, the USA, the Dominican Republic and China.

Expansion in emerging markets

The company also made major progress in its strategy of expansion into emerging markets. Gamesa continues to sign joint development agreements with the leading Chinese utilities, while in India it commenced construction of 308 MW and commissioned 160 MW.

At the end of 2010, this area had joint development agreements in place for 2,426 MW in China.

Strategic agreement with Longyuan

During the early months of 2011, Gamesa signed two new agreements with Guangdong Nuclear Wind Power and China Huadian New Energy Development to jointly develop a total of 600 MW of wind projects in the Chinese provinces of Jilin and Inner Mongolia. Gamesa also made a major leap in its trade relations with China as it was chosen by utility Longyuan- the world's third-largest wind farm developer-as a partner to develop wind projects outside China.

This strategic cooperation agreement, the first signed by Chinese and Spanish companies in the wind sector, covers prospection of sites for the joint development of wind farms in such markets as the US, Europe and Latin America.

Gamesa and Longyuan will consider wind projects that have already been identified by Gamesa and are included in its development portfolio, as well as others in strategic markets.