Gamesa completes 1000th nacelle at its Pennsylvania manufacturing plant

Gamesa Technology Corp., Inc., a global leader in the design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of wind turbine generators and the development and sale of wind farms, announced the completion and shipment of its 1,000th nacelle manufactured at its Fairless Hills plant in southeastern Pennsylvania.

The finished nacelle is among the 152 G90X-2.0 MW wind turbines comprising the 304-megawatt Blue Creek Wind Farm in Van Wert and Paulding counties in western Ohio. The project, which is owned by Iberdrola Renewables, is under construction and expected to be online by end of 2011.

“Completion and delivery of the 1,000th nacelle is a significant milestone that reinforces our leadership in the North American wind market,” said Luis Miguel Fernandez, Chief Corporate Officer of Gamesa North America. “And with this great milestone, we reaffirm our long-term commitment to the North American market, which continues to hold vast potential.”

Gamesa was the first overseas wind manufacturer to set up full production facilities in the United States, officially selecting Pennsylvania in September 2004 as the site for its U.S. headquarters, East Coast development office and two North American manufacturing facilities.

Gamesa initially invested $34 million to convert 20-plus acres of a former U.S. Steel industrial site from a brownfield into a state-of-the-art manufacturing center for nacelles. The company continues to invest in that facility in Bucks County. Renovations at the plant began in the spring of 2006 with production starting later that same year. In 2010, the company completed upgrades at the Fairless Hills plant that included the introduction of a moving production line as part of their lean manufacturing strategy.

Gamesa started manufacturing G90X-2.0 MW turbines in the United States in 2009. More recently, the nacelles facility started producing the newest addition to the G9X-2.0 MW platform, the G97-2.0 MW Class IIIA nacelle for use in low-wind sites.

Gamesa has about 800 megawatts scheduled to go commercial by Dec. 31. To date, the company has installed more than 2,500 megawatts in North America, or about 1,285 turbines at 27 wind farms in 13 states.

Gamesa Technology Corp., Inc., a global leader in the design and manufacture of wind turbines and the development, construction and sale of wind farm plants, has installed more than 23,000 MW in 30 countries on four continents. Gamesa entered the North American market in 2005 and built two manufacturing plants, a nacelle plant and a blades facility, both in Pennsylvania.

Since entering the market, Gamesa has supplied wind turbines to 27 wind farms in the United States. In 2010, Gamesa ranked No. 3 in the United States for total wind power installations, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Gamesa also exports its U.S.-manufactured turbines to North and Central American countries and was the recipient of the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s “Renewables Energy Exporter of the Year” award in 2011. That same year, Gamesa opened the North American Offshore Wind Technology Center in Chesapeake, Va., where it is spearheading the design a 5.0 MW offshore wind turbine in collaboration with Newport News Shipbuilding, formerly Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding.

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