Spanish wind power giant Iberdrola may look again at commercial deals over commitments to purchase turbines from Siemens Gamesa amid discontent by Iberdrola chief executive Ignacio Galán with the performance of the OEM, it was reported in the Spanish media.

Iberdrola – which owns 8% of Siemens Gamesa – has until the end of this year to reaffirm or ditch a commitment to buy up to 50% of its new wind equipment from the manufacturer, Spanish business daily Cinco Dias said, adding the industrial agreement dates back to early this decade when Iberdrola owned close to 20% of a still independent Gamesa, before it was merged with the former Siemens Wind business.

Iberdrola and Gamesa signed a 10-year co-operation agreement in 2011, covering the period 2013-22 and covering a 50% purchase of onshore wind turbines or 3.8GW, whichever comes first.

Siemens Gamesa said it would not comment on its shareholders, while Iberdrola could not immediately be reached by Recharge for comment.

Galán is quoted as saying on Spanish news website Inversión and Finanzas that Iberdrola has only kept its stake in the OEM so far in order to guarantee that the merged wind turbine manufacturer will be turned into a “quite Spanish” company, and to ensure that the business performs well.

The latter apparently has not happened so far in the opinion of the Iberdrola CEO, who is quoted in several Spanish news outlets voicing sharp criticisms during a conference on Thursday of the way things are going at Siemens Gamesa.

“We can’t be content with a company that has lost more than 50% of its value in six months. When you are seeing things like the ones we see now, that they are doing a profit warning and you almost [only] get informed via newspapers on what they are doing, such as changing high-level executives (...) then you think that we are going crazy and something is going wrong,” Galán is quoted by Cinco Dias.

Following up on the announcement of a €135m ($160.6m) net loss during the first six months of its existence as a joint company, Siemens Gamesa last month said it would shed up to 6,000 jobs in a global shake up.

The company’s shares are currently trading in Madrid for €10.52, about half the level seen in July.

However, CEO Markus Tacke has insisted Siemens Gamesa is now poised to move forward with a strengthened management team and accelerated synergies from the merger.

The OEM unveiled the first products in its slimmed-down turbine range at the WindEurope industry event this week, and received a boost when it landed a 955MW offshore wind deal from Vattenfall.

Wind

Iberdrola said to mull Siemens Gamesa deal change as CEO hits out