- The new Haizea Bilbao facilities, whose foundation stone was laid today by the Lehendakari of the Basque Government, the Deputy General of Bizkaia, the Mayor of Zierbana, the President of Haizea Wind Group and the President of Iberdrola, will manufacture 50 monopiles for Iberdrola that will support the wind turbines of the East Anglia Three offshore wind farm in the United Kingdom.
- The contract will contribute to the creation of 350 direct jobs and is an important endorsement of the technological and production capabilities developed by Haizea Wind Group over the last five years.
- This contract is an important recognition of Haizea Wind Group’s technological and production capabilities and adds to the order book which, in total, exceeds 1.5 billion euros of workload in Bilbao.
- In total, the East Anglia Three wind farm will have a capacity of 1.4 GW and will supply clean energy to more than one million British homes.
- Expansion work has just begun and will involve an investment of more than 150 million euros.
Bilbao, 15 March 2023. Haizea Wind Group, a world leader in the manufacture of wind towers, and Scottish Power, an Iberdrola group company, have signed an agreement worth more than 200 million euros for Haizea Bilbao to supply 50 monopiles from its facilities at the Port. This is the second contract Haizea Bilbao has secured for the Port’s future facilities after the one signed last September with the Danish company Ørsted.
Today, the Lehendakari of the Basque Government Iñigo Urkullu, the Deputy General of Bizkaia Unai Rementeria, the Mayor of Zierbana Iñigo de Loyola Ortuzar, the President of Haizea Wind Group Dámaso Quintana, the President of Iberdrola Ignacio Sánchez Galán, the Councillor for Economic Development Arantxa Tapia, and the Deputy for Economic Promotion Ainara Basurko have laid the first stone of the future facilities, which will require an investment of more than 150 million euros.
Currently, the Group’s plant in the Port of Bilbao, Haizea Bilbao, has 48,800 square metres and 500 workers. After signing these contracts with Iberdrola and Ørsted, Haizea Bilbao now has a surface area of more than 200,000 m2.
The expansion has required the extension of the existing concession granted by the Port Authority. In addition to the three existing halls, Haizea Bilbao will add another three, and a new additional storage area to accommodate the monopiles before they are delivered to the transport vessels. In addition, the agreement will mean the creation of some 350 direct jobs at Haizea Bilbao.
With this contract, Haizea Wind Group completes a workload in Bilbao that exceeds 1,500 million euros for the next 4 years and, in addition, represents an important recognition of its technological and productive capabilities. The 50 monopiles that Haizea Wind Group will manufacture 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 clean energy to more than one million British homes.
The Haizea Bilbao extension works will be carried out by Amenabar.
Leading manufacturer in Europe
Monopiles are large steel structures, which serve to fix wind turbines to the seabed, and are the most competitive type of foundation, being present in approximately 80% of offshore wind farms in operation.
Currently, for 10-12MW offshore wind turbines, monopiles have a diameter of 8-9 metres, a length of 80-90 metres and a weight of around 1500 tonnes. Haizea Bilbao is one of the few European manufacturers capable of producing parts with these dimensions. In the future, with wind turbines of up to 20MW, it is estimated that the monopiles will be up to 14-15 metres in diameter, up to 130 metres long and weigh up to 3500 tonnes. With the planned investments, the new plant in Bilbao will be sized to manufacture parts of this size in serial production, and will become the benchmark factory in Europe.
As stated in the contract signed with Iberdrola, Haizea Bilbao will be in charge of the supply of materials, engineering of the manufacturing process and manufacture of the monopiles. This contract and the expansion of Haizea’s capacity in the Port of Bilbao are in line with Haizea Wind Group’s strategic growth plan, which includes the objective of becoming one of the most important players in the offshore wind energy value chain and, more specifically, securing a relevant position within the offshore foundation supply and manufacturing companies.
The achievement of this agreement with such a relevant company, the market leader in operational offshore wind power, confirms the strength of the plan developed by Haizea Bilbao in recent years to position itself as one of the leading manufacturers of structures (towers and foundations) in offshore wind power, and consolidates the group’s commitment to become one of the world’s leading suppliers to the wind power industry. The Port of Bilbao will also see its position as one of the most important offshore wind hubs in Southern Europe strengthened with the investment.
Haizea Wind Group is currently the leading manufacturer of large offshore wind towers in Europe having executed important projects such as East Anglia One and Dogger Bank (United Kingdom), Borselle 1&2 and HKZ (Holland), Hornsea Two (United Kingdom), Seamade (Belgium), Formosa (Taiwan), St. Nazaire and St. Brieuc (France) or Hywind Tampen (Norway) among others.
For its part, Iberdrola is one of the world’s leading offshore wind energy operators, and one of the most important players in complying with global energy transition policies.
About Haizea Wind Group
Haizea Wind Group was formed in 2017, relying on two existing companies (Grupo WEC and Tecnoaranda). In 2018 Haizea launched Haizea Sica, its wind tower factory in Santa Fe (Argentina). Also in 2018, production was launched in the offshore tower factory in the Port of Bilbao, Haizea Bilbao, by a group of professionals with extensive experience and with the aim of becoming the benchmark in offshore wind manufacturing in the European market. More recently, in 2022, Haizea Wind Group opened the Haizea Breizh plant in France, also dedicated to offshore wind towers.
Haizea Wind Group currently has three business units: wind towers, offshore foundations and large wind power castings.
The Group currently employs around 1,200 people and turnover in 2022 will exceed 250 million euros.
