Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and GE Vernova sign a contract worth more than 700 million euros to supply wind turbines for the Maestrazgo cluster of the Teruel wind project

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and GE Vernova’s Onshore Wind division announced the signing of an agreement worth more than EUR 700 million for the delivery, installation and commissioning of 125 GE Vernova 6.1-158 wind turbines at the Teruel wind project that CIP has been promoting through contracts with the developer in that province and which is expected to start the construction phase shortly. The agreement also includes a 15-year full service contract. The 125 wind turbines will be destined for the Teruel project which, with a combined installed capacity of approximately 760 MW, is expected to become the largest wind farm in Spain, contributing significantly to the acceleration of the energy transition and the decarbonisation of the national electricity system by reducing CO₂ emissions by an expected 320,000 tonnes per year.

CIP has foreseen an investment of around 1 billion euros for the construction of this wind farm, to which a further 1.4 billion euros will be added in operation and maintenance costs throughout the life of the project, according to the socio-economic impact report of the project carried out by an independent consultancy firm.

The order, which was booked by GE Vernova in Q4 of 2023, represents one of the largest contracts for wind projects ever in Spain and is expected to provide a significant boost to the Spanish wind industry.  The project will take advantage of GE Vernova’s strong presence in Spain where the Company already has more than 4.3 GW in operation, an engineering center of excellence in Barcelona, and two wind turbine blade production factories. Specifically, the blades for the 125 wind turbines are expected to be manufactured at its plant in Les Coves de Vinromà, Castellón. The wind turbine towers are also expected to be manufactured at other companies’ Spanish plants located in Albacete, Burgos and Galicia.

The contract builds on previous agreements through which GE Vernova has previously supplied 490 MW to CIP for onshore wind power in Aragon, Spain.

Vic Abate, CEO of GE Vernova Wind, said: “We are delighted to be able to again support CIP in its goals to bring more wind power online to meet Spain’s ambitious renewable energy targets and continue to contribute to the Spanish wind industry. This agreement reinforces how we can use our workhorse product strategy to provide our customers with proven technology that enables them to build high quality, high performance fleets at scale to meet the demands of the energy transition.”

Nischal Agarwal, partner at CIP said: “The Maestrazgo cluster is expected to have a very positive socio-economic impact on job creation and on the Aragonese and Valencian economy, but also on the value chain of the entire Spanish wind industry. The wind turbines will be manufactured in production plants located in Spain, such as GE Vernova’s plant in Castellón and others from different suppliers in Albacete, Burgos and Galicia, where the towers are expected to be manufactured. The expected impact of investment and job creation figures make the Teruel project a benchmark for the sector in Europe”.

The project is only awaiting the Administrative Authorisation for Construction (AAC) in order to start the installation works, with CIP having already committed all the necessary funds to undertake the construction.

The project will enable CIP, which has been developing one of the renewable energy project portfolios in Spain for the past five years, to accelerate the achievement of ambitious energy transition targets. In June 2023, the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) announced that it aims to produce 62 GW of wind power by 2030, up from a previous target of 50 GW, as part of a broader plan to maximise the amount of the country’s electricity generated from renewable sources. In addition, the project is expected to contribute to the maintenance of more than 3,540 jobs, some 400 million euros in taxes, and enough electricity to supply the equivalent of approximately 570,000 homes per year.

GE Vernova’s onshore wind business has a total installed base of more than 56,000 turbines and nearly 120 GW of installed capacity worldwide. Committed to customer success for more than two decades, its product portfolio offers proven, next-generation technology that leads with high-power turbines to enable high-quality scale and drive decarbonisation through more affordable and sustainable renewable energy generation. This includes more than 1,200 operational units of its 6 MW platform, the most widely deployed onshore wind turbine among all OEMs offering nameplates above 5 MW.