Vestas establishes Nacelle assembly factory in Spain

The Vestas Group has established a nacelle assembly factory in Villadangos, in the province of Castilla y León, on land developed by the regional government. The factory, to be built inside a 25,000 square-metre plot, will specialize in production of V90 GFRP wind turbines, which the company regard to be “very competitive” in the Spanish market. The factory is expected to be put into operation during the first half of 2006 and when fully operational, the factory will have an annual capacity of 300 nacelles and is expected to generate employment for up to 150 people. The total investment in production equipment, land and buildings is expected to amount to EUR 10 mill.

Spain is one of the leading countries in wind energy worldwide with an installed capacity of more than 9,000 MW, and Vestas expects that the market will continue as a large and stable market in the coming years. The wind power plants so far installed in the Castilla y León region have a capacity of more than 1,700 MW, and with the region’s specific development plans, the capacity is expected to increase to 6,000 MW. The new production facility will further increase the Group’s production capacity from Spain, as supplies from the Galician Vivero nacelle assembly factory will also increase in 2006, cf. Vestas’ press release of 4 March 2005.

“The establishment of a nacelle factory in Castilla y León continues the part of our strategy related to expansion of the manufacturing capacity close to the new markets, and the new Vestas production facility marks another positive development in the long and open relationship between the Castillla y León Government and Vestas,” says Ditlev Engel, President and CEO of Vestas Wind Systems A/S. Earlier in June Vestas received orders for at total of 20 units of the V90 wind turbine for two wind farms to be located near Tarifa in the Andalusia region in Spain. The orders have been placed by Parque Eólico Bancal S.L. and Parque Eólico Los Siglos S.L., which are owned by the same group. The projects are both turnkey deliveries including a 2-year service, maintenance and warranty agreement. Delivery of the turbines will begin at the end of 2005 and commissioning of the wind power plants is expected to take place during the spring of 2006.