Vestas has halted almost all production at its factories in Spain because of the continued measures needed to try and cut the spread of the coronavirus.
The Danish manufacturer said that after consulting with the authorities, it is implementing the measures adopted by the government in accordance to Royal Decree 10/2020.
This means that all activities have stopped at the generators factory in Viveiro and blade plant in Daimiel, except for a small amount of operations that “either cannot stop or need to run to prepare the factories for a fast ramp up after 9 April”, the company said.
Vestas said that all of the continuing operations will be “performed under the extraordinary safety measures that were implemented since the beginning of the crisis in all sites to minimise the risk of contagion within our employees”.
It added that because of the company’s crisis management setup, it was “already prepared to lock down part of our activities” and it is “ready to quickly restart operations on 10 April or the timeline established by the authorities”.
Work at the Daimiel facility had been temporarily stopped earlier in the month due to worker concerns over COVID-19, but had been re-opened after an inspection from the health authorities.
Rival manufacturer Siemens Gamesa closed two facilties in Spain last week – a blade factory at Aoiz and a plant in Madrid that validates and produces power electronics equipment.
Both companies have also temporarily closed factories in India in response to government moves to combat the virus.