Siemens Gamesa finalizes the sale of three factories in Spain to the Swiss group ABB

2023-08-03 13:40:44

Siemens Gamesa is advancing on its plans to sell eight factories in Spain, including the two in the Basque Country, in order to fill its loss hole. Although his initial intention was to carry out the operation en bloc, he is now finalizing the sale of a part to the Swiss giant ABB. Specifically, it would be the subsidiary of electrical generators and converters, which has a series of factories spread across China and India and three in Spain: Madrid, Valencia and Cantabria. The transaction would reach an amount of 200 million euros, according to information published by ‘Cinco Días’.

If the operation is successful, the Swiss multinational would consolidate its position in Spain, where it has five production and engineering centers where more than 1,700 people work. In the Basque Country, ABB has two plants, one in Trapagaran and the other in Oiartzun. It is precisely now celebrating its tenth anniversary since it acquired the first factory from Alstom, dedicated to the business of annular motors for gearless mill drive systems.

Siemens Gamesa has been dealing with heavy losses for years that, far from remitting, only worsen. Last year they shot up to 940 million euros and those of this year are even worse. Only in the first quarter, which starts on October 1, 884 million euros were left. Its German parent company, Siemens Energy, has already anticipated that the technical problems in Gamesa’s 5. X wind turbines – the equipment that should be the star of land generation, with the capacity to produce more than 6 megawatts per hour of electricity – will generate losses of 1,000 million euros. The group has to deal with repairs to equipment in operation and compensation for delays in deliveries. This Monday will give details in the presentation of results.

Faced with this bleeding in the ‘onshore’ segment (onshore wind power), at the end of last year the German group put all its plants in Spain up for sale, with the exception of the one dedicated to the assembly of equipment in Ágreda (Soria). The factories are located in Sigüeiro (La Coruña), Burgos, Lerma (Burgos), Reinosa (Cantabria), Valencia, San Fernando de Henares. The last three would go to the ABB group.

Siemens Gamesa, which is headquartered in Zamudio, also wants to get rid of its two Basque plants, those in Mungia and Asteasu in Gipuzkoa, which employ 320 people. These two factories are dedicated to the manufacture of gearboxes, the equipment equivalent to the gearbox of a vehicle, which, inside a wind turbine, is responsible for transmitting the rotation of the blades to the electricity generator.

Apart from these sales, Siemens Gamesa has made a new ERE, which initially affected 475 workers but, after negotiations with the unions, has included 231 people, as this newspaper recently published. Of them, 139 have accepted compensation to leave and 83 have entered the early retirement scheme.