GE Vernova, Forestalia Reach Deal for Wind Farms in Spain
GE Vernova said the company’s turbines will play a major role in supporting renewable energy in Spain through a collaboration with Forestalia, one of that country’s leading clean energy developers.
The companies on Dec. 14 said they had a framework agreement in which GE Vernova will install as much as 693 MW of onshore wind generation capacity. The company’s turbines will be used in at least 16 project sites in Spain’s Aragon region. GE on Thursday said the deal “builds on the success of the previous agreement signed in 2016 and expands GE’s largest wind collaboration in Spain.”
GE Vernova said 110 of its 6.1-158 wind turbines will be installed in six phases near Zaragoza, with the first phase—featuring 33 turbines at five wind farms—already under construction.
Pipeline of Projects
“We are delighted to be extending our ongoing cooperation with the Forestalia team,” said Vic Abate, chief technology officer for GE and CEO of GE Vernova’s Wind division. “This agreement will bring a significant pipeline of new projects through 2024 in Aragon, a region where we have commissioned more than 1.5 GW of wind energy to date. We are proud to play a key role in driving Spain’s energy transition effort, and look forward to bringing more renewable, sustainable, and affordable energy to the country.”
GE Vernova said 33 of the turbines in the framework agreement will have 101-meter hub heights, with the other 77 having 120.9-meter hub heights. All of the turbines are scheduled to be delivered to Forestalia by the end of 2024.
Fernando Samper, president of Forestalia, said his group has “enormous satisfaction with this new agreement, which reinforces the intense collaboration between GE and Forestalia shown over all these years.”
Samper continued, “This deal will help us take a further step towards our goal of achieving 1.2 GW in operation in Forestalia’s own portfolio, under direct management, for the benefit of the socio-economic development of the territory hosting the projects, and also for a greater decarbonization of the economy.”
The companies said their partnership reached a milestone in 2022 when GE signed its first European power purchase agreement (PPA). That deal was for energy from Forestalia’s 21-MW El Coto wind farm in Spain. GE said the El Coto PPA “is a key component of GE’s plan to achieve carbon neutral operations by 2030, while enabling new renewable energy generation to come online to help decarbonize the economy.”
GE Vernova on Thursday said the company has received nearly 10 GW of orders and amassed more than 4 million operating hours globally for this 6.1-MW turbine platform, with more than 1,200 units currently operating.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior associate editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).