Siemens Gamesa to shut 2 Spanish blade factories

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA decided to cease operations at its Somozas and Cuenca blade factories in Spain.

The wind-turbine maker will close the Somozas factory in La Coruña because of a lack of orders for the SG 2.X-114 model that was produced at the plant. Siemens Gamesa said that the plant would be incapable of competitively producing larger in-demand blade models due to higher costs as well as site and logistic constraints.

Meanwhile, the company will shutter the Cuenca plant, which was exclusively focused on blade repairs, because of the "extremely competitive" repair market and the growing trend to just replace blades instead of repairing them. The factory also faces site constraints.

The company will soon present a collective dismissal agreement for the 215 employees from Somozas and 51 employees from Cuenca. Negotiations with the local workers council are expected to start in the coming days.