Gamesa has announced its industrial project into Brazil following this morning's signature of a memorandum of intentions with Jacques Wagner, Governor of the State of Bahia, under which the company will build a nacelle plant in Camaraçi, in the north-east of the state.
The Bahia plant will have a production capacity of 300 MW and will create 100 jobs.
According to Jorge Calvet, Chairman of Gamesa, "the company's presence in Brazil reflects its strategic commitment to establishing industrial capacity in markets with growth potential, enhancing our competitiveness in production and helping our customers expand internationally”.
"This initiative lays the foundation of Gamesa's commitment to developing wind projects in Brazil and commences a new business project in the country, the goal being to make Mercosur, and Brazil in particular, one of Gamesa's core growth markets in the short and medium term”.
Gamesa's strategy in Brazil focuses on strengthening its position as a key industrial group in the wind market; growing its contract base among local developers (international utilities and IPPs), and developing a major commercial, industrial, and operation and maintenance (O&M) services network.
Gamesa will use Brazil as an industrial and operation base from which to expand into other countries, such as Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, where the company has new wind projects planned in the coming years.
Having recently established a subsidiary for Mercosur in Sao Paulo, Gamesa expects its sales will increase by an annual average of 50% in Central and South America (2009-2013).
In the last two months, Gamesa has signed agreements to supply 300 MW in Brazil for wind projects to be developed by Inveravante and Iberdrola Renovables.
According to Edgard Corrochano, Gamesa's Mercosur Director, "our project in the country is based on knowledge of the Brazilian market, our global leadership, our competitiveness—in terms of costs, flexibility and reliability—and our commitment to develop and generate wealth for the communities where we operate”.
Gamesa's industrial and commercial move into Brazil will help develop the local industry, which will supply 60% of the components used by Gamesa in its wind turbine production there.
Brazilis the country with the greatest growth prospects for wind power in the Southern Cone: in 2009, the region had slightly over 600 MW of installed wind capacity, and that figure is expected to increase 10-fold to almost 6,000 MW by 2014, according to forecasts by experts and the Brazilian government.
Gamesa's presence in Brazil dates back to 1998, when it provided engineering services for electricity grid and substation maintenance.
In this century, it commenced development of three major wind farms as part of the Programme of Incentives for Alternative Electrical Sources (PROINFA), created to increase the use of renewable energies, such as wind, biomass, and small hydroelectric.
Currently, Gamesa has a strong presence in Latin America, where it has installed more than 200 MW in five countries and has agreements and/or orders for 370 MW in Honduras, Brazil and Costa Rica.