Reportedly, Siemens is likely to buy Adwen, a joint venture between Areva and Gamesa, as part of its merger with Gamesa.
During these first months of 2016, Siemens and Gamesa have been in final talks over an agreement to merge their wind power businesses and thus make the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer.
However, up until now, onshore wind assets were in the spotlight and the offshore wind joint venture has emerged as a stumbling block during negotiations.
When contacted by Offshore WIND, Adwen refused to comment on the matter.
According to German media, Siemens could put more money on the table than originally planned and buy out Areva’s stake in the joint venture. Allegedly, the company is reluctant to fulfil some of the obligations towards the joint venture, such as developing and building large offshore wind turbines which incorporate Areva’s technology, and building two manufacturing plants for Adwen’s 8MW turbines in France.
However, the wind turbine factories are of significance to French economy. “I want those factories to be built because we need this capacity,” Reuters quoted French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron as saying. “Since it looks probable that it will not be Adwen, they will be built by the partner that makes the best offer in terms of industry and employment.”
Also, according to Reuters’ sources, the acquisition of Adwen would strengthen Siemens’ dominance in European offshore wind sector.
When it comes to Adwen, its 8MW turbine has already been selected for 1.5GW of projects planned for France. In an interview from January 2016, Adwen told Offshore WIND that its 8MW turbine is already competitive and has the largest Annual Energy Production (AEP) in the industry, thus helping lower the Cost of Energy.
Offshore WIND Staff