Iberdrola and Siemens Gamesa make peace with mega offshore wind contract

Peace returns to the stormy relationship between Iberdrola and its wind turbine supplier Siemens Gamesa (SG). Since the merger of Siemens and Gamesa's wind assets in 2017 and with the power utility still in the renewable group's capital, relations have never been easy. They came to a head at the end of last year, when the corporation chaired by Ignacio Galán left the agreement with SG that stipulated the supply of turbines to its offshore wind complexes in UK waters up in the air.

Problems arose when it came to setting the price. Iberdrola pressed for its part to give greater profitability to a project it won in a public tender. And SG pushed for its own in defense of margins that in the wind industry have been affected by the inflation of energy and raw material costs. Industry sources said that the amount of the contract, which has not been made public, would be well over 1 billion.

The situation has taken a positive turn for both parties and Iberdrola has awarded the Siemens Energy subsidiary the delivery of the 95 turbines that will equip the East Anglia Three (EA3) offshore wind farm. Located in the North Sea, it will have a capacity of 1.4 GW to cover the energy consumption of 1.3 million homes on the island. Iberdrola will invest some 4 billion euros. They will be the largest offshore turbines of SG, with 14 MW of unit power. The wind group has also won the maintenance contract for an initial period of eight years.

SG has pointed out that "the current macroeconomic context is extremely complicated for wind turbine manufacturers". The EA3 order "has been possible thanks to the collaboration between all the parties involved".

The EA3 project is partially advanced in its industrial phase. Construction is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2026. Ignacio Galán signed this month at Haizea Wind's factory the contract for the supply of 50 monopiles that will support the wind turbines. With this order, valued at 250 million, the company chaired by Dámaso Quinta will invest 150 million in the expansion of its facilities on the Biscayan docks.

These monopiles are columns of gigantic dimensions anchored to the seabed. Those that will set sail from the Port of Bilbao for the United Kingdom will have a diameter of 9 meters and a length of about 90 meters each, with a weight of 1,500 tons.

EA3 is the second of the four projects that Scottish Power, Iberdrola's British subsidiary, is developing for the East Anglia offshore wind program, designed to reach a capacity of 2.9 GW in turbines anchored off the east coast of England, off the town of Norfolk. EA3 will cover an area of some 305 square kilometers. The closest wind turbine to land will be 69 kilometers offshore.