Alstom launches its third wind manufacturing unit in Brazil

Alstom has opened a €30m wind turbines manufacturing unit in Brazil in a joint venture with Andrade Gutierrez.

While 49% of the project is owned by Alstom, the rest 51% stake belongs to Andrade Gutierrez, which is a Latin American infrastructure group.

Located at Jacobina in Bahia, Brazil, the Torres Eolicas do Nordeste plant has a production capacity of up to 200 wind turbine steel towers.

Spread across a built-up area of 22,000m² on a 140,000m² plot, the turbine manufacturing unit is adjacent to main operational and developing wind power plants in the region.

Alstom Wind business senior vice president Yves Rannou said: "Brazil should enter very soon the ranking of the largest wind power producers in the world.

"So it is particularly gratifying for Alstom to open this new plant in Brazil and contribute to this growth."

The unit can offer employment opportunities to 250 people and create 600 indirect jobs, once its fully operational.

The wind equipment manufacturing unit is a third for Alstom in Brazil, the first being also in Bahia which started operations in 2011 for manufacturing nacelles.

The second one located in Rio Grande do Sul was inaugurated in 2013. It manufactures towers for the country’s south market and for neighboring countries like Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

Alstom has already installed more than 3,000 wind turbines for 200 wind projects globally, having a power generation capacity of 5.8GW in total.