Gamesa Blog - Gamesa reinforces its strategic commitment to Brazil having met the nations new local content requirements

Gamesa has achieved another milestone in its Brazilian market strategy, having accredited the new local content requirements established just four months ago by Banco Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social (BNDES) for foreign companies operating in Brazil. So far, just one other company has met these requirements.

The new regulation, compliance with which is a prerequisite for qualifying for the BNDES’s financing lines, tightens the local content registration and accreditation stipulations for wind turbines made in Brazil, requiring gradually higher percentages of local equipment parts between now and 2016.

Until now, the BNDES’s criteria had been strictly financial: 60% of the total investment had to materialise in Brazil. However, since January 2013, turbine makers have to meet the staggered ‘manufacturing phases’ established by the bank, which will be stepped up every six months until 2016. Initial certification requires the local production of three of the following wind turbine parts: tower, blade, hub and nacelle.

The BNDES has already certified that Gamesa meets these new requirements: the company has a nacelle and hub assembly plant in Camaçari (Bahía state) since 2011 and it is working with local suppliers on the manufacture of its towers (Torrebras, Engebasa and ICEC/SCS) and blades (Tecsis).

“Brazil is one of our priority markets for the short and medium term. Our strategy for consolidating the company as one of the leading turbine makers in Brazil is underpinned by the combination of our global technological prowess with local know-how and our commitment to community development, creating jobs and generating wealth by purchasing and allying with local suppliers”, according to Edgard Corrochano, Gamesa’s Regional Director for the Southern Cone Region.

Contracts to supply 900 MW in Brazil

Since Gamesa began on-the-ground production in Brazil almost two years ago, it has rapidly consolidated its position in the Latin American giant, securing contracts encompassing the supply of more than 900 MW of capacity in the country’s top three wind-rich regions: Ceará, Bahía and Río Grande do Sul. At year-end 2012, Gamesa had already installed 96 MW of capacity in Brazil.

Besides Brazil, Gamesa is present in other Latin American nations, including Mexico, Honduras, Argentina and Costa Rica, where it has installed almost 1,000 MW of turbines. Latin America is one of the company’s core markets: in the first quarter of 2013, the region accounted for 53% of total revenue.