(PEI) IBERDROLA STRENGTHENS SIEMENS PARTNERSHIP

Spanish multinational utility Iberdrola has signed contracts with Siemens Gamesa for the maintenance of turbines across 69 wind energy farms in Spain and Portugal.

The contracts will see Siemens Gamesa maintaining Iberdrola’s 1,963 wind turbines with a total capacity of 1,928MW.

Siemens Gamesa will maintain the G4X (660 kW unit power), G5X (850 kW), G8/9X (2.0 MW), Siemens Gamesa 2.X (SG 2.1-114 and SG 2.6-114) and Siemens Gamesa 3.X (SG 3.4-132) turbines for a period of between three to five years.

In addition to the maintenance services, Siemens Gamesa will also help Iberdrola to improve energy production and reduce operation costs at the sites.

The contracts also see Iberdrola leveraging Siemens Gamesa’s services to modernise the fleet for safety and output improvements, according to the statement. The contract is expected to increase the life span of the wind turbines.

Some 160 wind farm technicians will be employed to carry out the work, thereby improving the local rural economies in which the turbines are located. Power Engineering International - link - Nicholas Nhede - link - more like this (Spain) - link - more like this - link

(PEI) SPAIN STEPS CLOSER TO A HYDROGEN ECONOMY

Five storage tanks are on their way to a plant in Puertollano, Spain, to be filled with renewable hydrogen gas produced by water electrolysis.

The project, developed by Iberdrola in partnership with fertilizer company Fertiberia, will ultimately see the construction of more than 800MW of electrolysers to produce green hydrogen and later green ammonia and fertilisers.

The 1.8 billion euros ($2.09 billion) hydrogen production initiative aims to support the development of Spain’s hydrogen economy and should result in the country becoming the first country with 100% production of ammonia for green fertilisers, according to Iberdrola.

The storage tanks are manufactured in the Spanish province of Asturias. They are made of special steel with a sheet metal thickness of 47mm to contain the small hydrogen particles. Each tank allows for the storage of 2,700kg of green hydrogen at 60 bars and each tank has a volume of 133m3.

When empty, each tank weighs 77 tonnes and requires two cranes to assemble it.

According to Iberdrola, the tanks will enter the site in reverse to comply with the turning radii required by the presence of the existing Fertiberia plant and Iberdrola’s green hydrogen plant.

The storage of green hydrogen is becoming increasingly essential to guarantee the supply required by industry to drive decarbonisation.

Green hydrogen is seen to have high potential as an energy vector, mainly for the electrification of industrial processes and heavy transport. Power Engineering International - link - Pamela Largue - link - more like this (Spain) - link - more like this - link