Siemens Gamesa Awarded 485 MW Of Wind Contracts In South Africa & Sweden

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Global wind leader Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has announced two new wind supply contracts over the last two weeks, including an order for 250 megawatts (MW) for two wind farms in South Africa and 235 MW for a wind farm in Sweden.

Siemens Gamesa was confirmed earlier this year as the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturer, dethroning Danish manufacturer Vestas, thanks in part to the successful merger between Gamesa and Siemens’ wind energy division in April of 2017. Siemens Gamesa’s rise to its current leadership position in turbine manufacturing wasn’t a complete surprise, but the speed at which they have done so is nevertheless impressive (and a topic we explored in May).

Earlier in the month, Siemens Gamesa revealed that they had been awarded the contract to supply two wind farms in South Africa with 250 MW worth of wind turbines — 109 units of its SWT-2.3-108 turbine. The two wind farms that will use the new turbines are the 140 MW Kagngnas wind farm, located near Springbox in the Northern Cape, and the 110 MW Perdekraal East wind farm close to Ceres in the Western Cape. Siemens Gamesa will also provide a 10-year service agreement for the two new farms.

The two wind farms are owned by a consortium led by Mainstream Renewable Power, an independent global developer of renewable energy, which acquired the development contract from the South African Department of Energy as part of the country’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The two projects are expected to generate clean electricity for the equivalent of 214,000 South African homes and, while Siemens Gamesa will begin supplying turbines early in 2019, completion for the two projects is not expected until 2020.

“This is the next big milestone for Siemens Gamesa in South Africa and with adding these two wind farms, Siemens Gamesa will have installed more than 850MW of wind capacity in the country,” said Janek Winand, Managing Director Siemens Gamesa South Africa. “We are proud to offer services with a localized team based in Johannesburg with long lasting experience and determined to generate value for South Africa by creating jobs, supporting local manufacturing and driving development projects within local communities.”

More recently, Siemens Gamesa was also awarded a contract to supply 235 MW worth of wind turbines — 56 units of its SWT-DD-130 wind turbine rated at 4.2 MW each — for the Överturingen wind park in central Sweden.

“We are proud to set a visible example of the performance of our products in Sweden,” explained Ricardo Chocarro, CEO Onshore at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. “Our technology perfectly meets the site- and project-specific requirements. At the same time, this project demonstrates the attractiveness of wind energy for the capital markets, investors and communities”.

The project is owned by the Green Investment Group (GIG) — formerly the UK’s Green Investment Bank, which was then sold to Australian banking giant Macquarie Group in August of 2017 — and is being developed by Swedish company SCA Energy in close partnership with Siemens Gamesa.

SCA Energy announced only last week that the Green Investment Group had taken ownership of the project in a deal worth €270 million ($315 million USD).

“The Överturingen project demonstrates our capability as a development partner, successfully bringing permitted projects forward to financial close,” said Ed Northam, Head of GIG in Europe. “By working closely with SCA, Siemens Gamesa and Norsk Hydro, we were able to establish the partnerships needed to convert a development opportunity into a market-leading project under construction.”

“This project is the latest to utilise a new investment model – developing new projects by working with companies who want to buy renewable energy directly,” added Mark Dooley, Global Head of Green Energy for Macquarie Capital and the Green Investment Group. “This model provides the secure revenues needed to finance renewable energy assets with less and less reliance on public subsidy. It follows similarly structured GIG and Macquarie Capital projects such as Markbygden Ett in Sweden, Canadian Breaks in the US and Lal Lal and Murra Warra in Australia.”

Speaking to Siemens Gamesa’s involvement in the project, Dooley continued, saying: “Siemens Gamesa is a leading turbine supplier and a natural partner for a project as ambitious as this. Siemens Gamesa’s expertise in the Nordic region was particularly valuable in bringing this project to financial close and builds on our global relationship with them, from Sweden to Texas and Taiwan.”


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Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

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