A group of highly qualified businesses in the wind energy sector and a strong maritime industry, with highly advanced port infrastructures and ancillary services: that is the foundation on which the Basque Government and the Basque Energy Board (EVE) are seeking to build a real “smart energy revolution” in the Basque Country, with the offshore wind sector as one of its mainstays.
To bring together what these firms and organisations have to offer, consolidate their position as technology leaders and identify new opportunities, the “Basque Country” brand has been created. This brand was presented at the EWEA Offshore Fair in Frankfurt last week. The event featured Javier Zarraonandia, Basque Government Director for Energy, Mines and Industrial Administration, and Javier Marqués, Technical Director of EVE. They both assured that “the Basque Country is in a very good position to meet the challenges of this growing sector and compete on the world-wide energy market”.
EVE, the Basque Government’s energy agency, is accompanied here under the “Basque Country” banner by the international promotion group BEOG (Basque Eolic Offshore Group), the Energy Cluster Association, which brings together the leading firms in the energy sector value chain operating in the Basque Country, by Equipamientos Eólicos, a company that designs and manufactures lifts for the erection and maintenance wind turbines, by the Basque Maritime Forum, an organisation set up to promote and enhance the competitiveness of the firms in the Basque maritime sector, by La Naval, a shipyard specialising in the design and construction of highly sophisticated vessels, by Ormazabal, a provider of solutions for electrical companies, end users of electricity and energy system applications, by Tecnalia, a multidisciplinary technology research and development corporation, and by Vicinay Marine, a specialist supplier of mooring lines and chains for the offshore industry. Other front-line Basque companies exhibiting at this event include Asaken, Gamesa, Iberdrola and Ingeteam.
In Germany they were all showing off the potential of Basque industry throughout the offshore wind power supply chain, from test infrastructures through research in materials and design, manufacture and assembly of wind turbines to their erection offshore, with all the highly specialised work that this entails. Their aim is to approach new European and international projects as a group, offering synergies with great added value and thus attracting the attention of firms and investors from all over the world.
