GE is to supply turbines to nine subsidy-free wind farms totalling 300MW in Spain known collectively as the Goya project.
The wind farms, which are being developed by Forestalia Renovables, Mirova, GE and Engie, will feature 82 machines comprising 3.4-130 and 3.8-130 models.
The turbine components will be manufactured at GE factories in Barcelona and Salzbergen in Germany, with blades produced by LM Wind Power plants.
GE and Engie will build the projects. Civil works will start shortly, with the projects planned to be in operation by March 2020 at the latest.
About 700 jobs will be created during construction with 50 permanent positions generated once the projects are operational.
The wind farms are the Argovento, Canacoloma, El Saso, Sierra Luna, and Las Majas 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and will be located near Zaragoza in the Aragon region of Spain.
The European Investment Bank is providing at €50m loan to help build the Goya project, while a further €120m is coming from a syndicate of commercial banks including BBVA, CaixaBank and Santander.
Forestalia Renovables (9%), a Mirova fund (51%), GE Energy Financial Services (25%) and Engie (15%) are providing a further €140m in equity finance for the project.
Goya also has a 12-year power purchase agreement in place, under which Engie will guarantee to buy a large portion of the electricity generated by the wind farms.
The projects, which were successful in Spain’s renewables auction in 2016, are the first phase of what could be a 1.5GW cluster at the site.
EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete, said: “The European Commission welcomes the financing of these nine wind farms in Aragon.
“Spain has the potential to be the benchmark for renewable energies and sustainable long-term job creation. These projects provide an example of this potential and they will certainly not be the last.”
Image: GE
GE to colour Goya canvas
By EBS