Wind turbine maker Gamesa (GAM.MC) and the Newport News Shipbuilding operations of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), America’s largest shipbuilder, have signed an agreement to work together on offshore wind technology.
The agreement calls for the companies to cooperate on the launch of Gamesa’s first 5-megawatts (MW) offshore turbine prototype using Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s experience in challenging marine environments.
Gamesa is currently designing and developing a G11X- 5.0 MW offshore Wind Turbine (WTG), specifically for the marine environment, built upon the technologies already tested and validated in the company’s G10X-4.5 MW platform.
Gamesa is teaming with Northrop Grumman to utilize their expertise in heavy load logistics, systems performance and reliability and the applications of such technologies in the marine environment.
Gamesa and Northrop Grumman said they are setting up an initial team of as many as 40 engineers in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia over the next month. This team will perform all of the preliminary work required to install in the US the first Gamesa G11X-5.0 MW offshore prototype by 4Q02, including site selection, permitting, final construction and installation of the prototype and testing.
"Gamesa has said before that it intends to play a significant role in the offshore market to ensure that it can tap the demand generated in the Northern European market, specifically the United Kingdom, starting in 2015, as well in the United States. Our alliance with Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding will give us the opportunity to test our technology on a short-term horizon, as well as to enhance and strengthen it," said Dirk Matthys, CEO of Gamesa in the US.
Offshore wind projects totaling more than 5,000 megawatts have been proposed and are in the planning or development stages in the United States.
New generations of offshore turbine systems offering higher installed capacity will be required in order to meet the expected rising demand in the offshore wind energy market in the medium and long term. To this end, Gamesa is already working on the rollout of another family of offshore turbines, with a capacity of 6-7 MW, with a pre-series potentially available in 2014.
With 30 manufacturing facilities in Europe, the United States, China and India, and 4,400 MW of annual manufacturing capacity, Gamesa has an international workforce of more than 6,300 people.
Gamesa started operations in the U.S. in 2005 which includes two manufacturing plants in Pennsylvania, and Gamesa currently employs 900 people in North America.
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