Madrid-based EDP Renováveis, the renewables affiliate of Portuguese utility Energías de Portugal (EDP), proposes 1300 MW for northern Galicia and says it will use turbines from Vestas' local factory. As a sweetener, it further promises to place a 2 MW order with Vestas' Galicia factory for every 1 MW order it wins through the local tender. EDP says it will ship surplus capacity from the Vestas factory to its US wind power affiliate Horizon Energy.
Furthermore, EDP says that if it is granted contracts for a minimum of 300 MW it will grant a 15% ownership stake in each project to Galicia's regional government and make room on each plant's board of directors for a local government official. Regional law mandates a minimum public stake of 10% in each project, but the requirement is currently under legal investigation (Windpower Monthly, June 2007).
According to press reports, applications in response to the Galician government's call for proposals earlier this year for 2.3 GW of new wind capacity total around 30 GW. If the volume of capacity expected to be selected by the regional government is completed on time, wind capacity in Galicia will reach 6 GW by 2012, up from 3002 MW in July.
Way to the south in the autonomous region of Andalucía, EUFER, a renewables joint venture between Italian and Spanish utilities Enel and Unión Fenosa, has submitted a bid for 536 MW, which is a little more than the government's request. EUFER also promises to place orders locally, but without specifying whether that would include equipment or services. Regional bank Caja Sur and local business consortium Séneca are joining EUFER in the bid. EUFER says that the partners will together own "up to 20%" of the venture. The company adds that it plans to hire workers locally, but does not give an estimate for the number of jobs that the wind farm construction will provide.
