The Nordex Group from next year on will produce more than 1GW of Delta4000 wind turbines at its plant near Valencia in Spain to cater for a “mountain of orders” as its output capacity at a factory in Rostock, Germany, has hit its limit, a company spokesman told Recharge.

The German-Spanish wind turbine OEM so far had produced machines from its Nordex platform exclusively in Rostock, while its manufacturing facilities in Spain and other parts of the world had churned out turbines from the Acciona Windpower platform.

"Series production for the Delta4000 started in Rostock in March 2019 and less than nine months later turbines from this generation are now coming off the production line in La Vall d’Uixó (Spain),” said Nordex Group chief executive José Luis Blanco.

“This will enable us to meet the increased global demand for turbines of this generation in a targeted manner. Today almost every second turbine sold comes from the Delta4000 series."

Losses at Nordex widened during the first nine months of this year. But unlike its now insolvent German peer Senvion, the company has been able to increase its sales, and boost global orders and production figures – boding well for a turnaround in the near future.

On December 12, the first nacelle for an N149/4.0-4.5 turbine left the production facility near Valencia for the Celada III wind farm in Spain.

As soon as 2020, almost 250 nacelles from the Delta4000 series with the equivalent of an annual capacity of more than 1GW are to be produced at La Vall d’Uixó, both for the European and the global market. Another 420 turbines of the Delta4000 series will be produced in Rostock next year, in addition to other Nordex turbines.

The La Vall d’Uixó plant had started production in 2005, and currently employs 125 people.

Other plants, such as a recently inaugurated factory in Argentina, in the future may follow and also produce turbines from the Nordex platform.

Nordex couldn’t tell Recharge, whether production costs in Spain are lower than in Germany, which might be another reason for starting the output of Delta4000 models in Spain instead of increasing the production capacity in Germany.

Other wind power OEM's, such as Siemens Gamesa, have announced job cuts in Germany, while they are increasing their production footprint in other parts of the world.

Germany’s wind industry has shed more than 40,000 jobs in recent years as a consequence of price pressures and a collapse in installations in the country itself.