Scottish Power, a UK subsidiary of Iberdrola, a Spanish renewables giant, on Wednesday signed a framework agreement worth over €200 million with Haizea Wind Group, for Haizea Bilbao to supply 50 monopiles to the East Anglia Three offshore wind farm in the UK.
The monopiles will be built in Haizea's facilities in the Port of Bilbao.
Also on Wednesday, the Basque First Minister Iñigo Urkullu, the Chairman of Haizea Wind Group Dámaso Quintana, and the Chairman of Iberdrola Ignacio Sánchez Galán, together with other authorities, laid the first stone of the new manufacturing facilities, which will require an investment of more than €150 million.
Currently, Haizea Bilbao has 48,800 square meters and employs 500 workers. After signing this latest contract with Iberdrola, Haizea Bilbao’s plant will now be enlarged to over 200,000 m2.
This expansion has meant broadening the scope of the existing concession granted by the Bilbao Port Authority. The Haizea Bilbao expansion works will be carried out by the Basque company Amenabar.
In addition to the three existing warehouses, Haizea Bilbao will build another three, and a new storage area to accommodate the monopiles before they are delivered to the transport vessels.
350 new jobs
In addition, the agreement will result in the creation of some 350 direct new jobs at Haizea Bilbao.
The 50 monopiles that Haizea Wind Group will fabricate for Iberdrola will be used to support the wind turbines of the East Anglia Three offshore wind farm in the United Kingdom.
In total, this wind farm will have a capacity of 1.4 GW and will supply electricity to more than one million British households.
As per the agreement signed with Iberdrola, Haizea Bilbao will be responsible for the supply of materials, the engineering of the manufacturing process, and monopile production.