Gamesa?s offshore joint venture with Areva was the result of an intense internal discussion about 18 months ago, when the Spanish company faced the need to make huge investments in offshore in order to compete with its bigger rivals.
Gamesa considered three options: going it alone; getting out of offshore altogether; or seeking a partner.
As corporate development managing director David Mesonero tells Recharge, once the decision had been made to find a partner, its options were limited.
?Areva had made the same kind of reflection as us and had the same industrial and technological approach,? says Mesonero, who steered negotiations between the two companies.
Areva?s management was also looking for a way to reduce its capital expenditure as its wind business was burning cash. The two companies? 5MW turbine designs were broadly similar, based on single-stage medium-speed gearboxes. Crucially, Areva had built a strong relationship with Spanish utility Iberdrola, Gamesa?s biggest shareholder and customer, for which it will supply turbines for projects off Germany and France.
....As well as supplying an optimised 5MW machine to offshore projects such as Saint-Brieuc and Wikinger, Gamesa and Areva have the ambition of producing ?the best 8MW turbine possible?, says Mesonero.
The first objective for the JV is to have its 8MW turbine ready in time to be in the running for the first project in Iberdrola?s giant East Anglia Round 3 zone, which is due to begin construction at the end of 2016 or beginning of 2017.
In terms of the wider strategic picture, Mesonero explains that Gamesa?s priority has been to turn around the company?s fortunes and make it profitable again while reducing debt ? something that has now been accomplished ? even if that meant sacrificing volumes for margins.
?This is a completely different company now,? says Mesonero, predicting that 2015 will see Ebit (earnings before interest and tax) margins grow to 8%, with debt continuing to fall and sales of 2-2.4GW.
A huge chunk of Gamesa?s sales have come from emerging markets in recent years, with Brazil, India and Mexico the star performers, offsetting the sharp slowdown in Gamesa?s traditional markets in Spain and the rest of Southern Europe.
?We have big advantages that are important entry barriers for our competitors: in India with our development capacity, Mexico with our cultural know-how, and Brazil with our local content,? says Mesonero. ?But we need to attack competitors in their markets.?
He says the next step for the company is to compete head to head with the likes of Vestas, Nordex and Siemens in the mature markets of Northern Europe and the US.
Gamesa believes its new 2.5MW and 5MW turbines will be central to winning market share in Europe, while its relationships with big customers such as Iberdrola and EDP Renováveis may be the key to increasing its sales in the US. Meanwhile, in emerging markets in Asia, Gamesa considers its ability to export from its big production centres in India and China a major advantage.
Looking ahead, Mesonero says Gamesa aims to be among the top three in both offshore and the world?s ten biggest onshore markets, and is closely watching how the competitive landscape develops....http://www.rechargenews.com/wind/1381104/IN-DEPTH-Gamesas-next-moves
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