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Acciona wins $400M deal, but company does not know if it will build here
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · December 20, 2013
Acciona Windpower last month landed its largest contract for 3-megawatt turbines — worth more than $400 million — though the company has yet to decide if it will restart the West Branch assembly plant to build them.
Acciona signed a contract to supply 100 turbines to two wind farms in Texas. The order also calls for 116-meter rotors and 92-meter steel towers, as well as a 10-year operations and maintenance agreement.
The news comes eight months after Acciona laid off the remainder of the West Branch assembly line workers in March due to lack of contracts.
The West Branch plant is the closest to the Texas wind farms, but Acciona spokesman Peter Gray said the company is still deciding which of its three wind turbine plants — it also has two in Spain — will build the turbines. The company announced in March that it plans to build a fourth assembly plant in Bahia, Brazil, to comply with loan requirements for upcoming projects in that country.
“I don’t know how long it will be before assembly begins,” Gray said. “There is some ramp-up time for ordering.”
It is also possible the order could be divided up between the assembly plants, he said.
The West Branch assembly plant was originally remodeled to construct 1.5-MW turbines, but the company updated the equipment and built its first 3-MW turbine in 2012 for a demonstration wind farm in Mechanicsville.
According to information from Acciona Windpower, the Texas wind farms chose the 116-meter rotors and 92-meter towers to optimize performance at those project sites. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2014, according to the company, “and the two wind farms are expected to be fully operational in 2015.”
“Acciona Windpower technology gives these projects the competitive edge that is critical in the North American wind energy market.” Acciona Windpower North America CEO Enrique Teruel said in a statement. “This order is an important milestone in Acciona Windpower’s global track record of success.”
Teruel replaced Joe Baker as CEO earlier this year, Gray said.
With the up to 300 MW of wind energy these turbines could produce, Acciona will have supplied or signed contracts for more than 1,200 MW of energy produced by 1.5- and 3-MW turbines in the United States.
The company also states that it has received “firm orders” to supply more than 1,300 MW of the 3-MW turbines in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Poland, Chile and South Africa.
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