With the aim of showing the international press the capabilities of the Basque wind power sector, the WindEurope Association and the Basque Energy Cluster organised an agenda with visits during the morning of Wednesday, 3 April, including two benchmark industrial companies with an intense activity within the sector: INGETEAM and VICINAY.

The press delegation included reporters from El Correo, Cinco Días, Expresso, Jutarnji List, New Europe and Les Echos, who were accompanied by representatives from WindEurope, the European Association of Wind Energy and the Basque Energy Cluster.

The visit to the INGETEAM headquarters at the Bizkaia Technology Park (Zamudio) was led by Eduardo Giménez, Corporate Marketing Manager, who presented the company's activity with a special focus on the wind power sector. The Ingeteam Group is the global leading independent supplier of converters from wind power applications, with an installed capacity of 45 GW and an 8% market share. Its manufacturing centres in Spain, United States, Brazil, Mexico and India allow it to operate globally. Similarly, it has become consolidated as the first ISP (Independent Services Provider), with a wind potential of over 8.6 GW, +12 GW of total power in renewable energy. They have an installed capacity of 29 GW in INDAR wind power generators (the group's proprietary brand), with an important activity in the American market and collaborating with the sector's main OEMs.

INGETEAM has two laboratories in its facilities, one for electric machines in Beasain and another for power electronics in Zamudio, which allows them to develop devices and systems of up to 40 MW and 30 kV. Following the presentation, the delegation visited the power electronics lab, where they had the opportunity to see a varied sample of products from the group, and a broad range of INGECON converters (DFIG, LV and MV), the INDAR generators or the INGEBOARDS application, which can improve the efficiency of the management of the assets’ life-cycle through the application of business intelligence tools.

After this, the group moved to the VICINAY SESTAO facilities, where they were received by Asier Pinedo, General Manager, and Marcos Bergua, Sales Manager, who presented the company activity. Vicinay is a company of family tradition, a global leader in design, manufacturing and supply of connectors and mooring solutions for the offshore industry (Oil&Gas and Renewable Energy), as well as the provision of services for these sectors. The steel chains stand out in their extensive range of mooring systems, with a diameter between 40 and 220 mm, as well as the bespoke connectors and tensors to fix offshore structures with different configurations. Over the past years, Vicinay has diversified its activity, expanding its experience with leading companies of the Oil&Gas sector towards the Renewable Energy sector through their participation in several offshore projects such as the Hywind and Kincardine wind farms in Scotland, the Kitakyushu demo project in Japan, or the WindFloat Atlantic wind farm, the first one with a floating structure in the Iberian Peninsula. It also participates in newly created companies such as Nautilus, focusing on the design and development of a new floating structure for high power offshore wind turbines (>5 MW).

Following the presentation, the delegation visited the production plant, where they could follow the manufacturing processes of large mooring lines, from cutting cylindrical steel sections, to their heating in high-temperature furnaces, moulding and assembling of the links and their subsequent cooling and inspection to guarantee the quality of the finishing.