Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has closed a plant in Spain after an employee tested positive for coronavirus, the wind turbine OEM confirmed.

Siemens Gamesa said its San Fernando de Henares plant in Madrid is closed for disinfection following the positive test last week

San Fernando de Henares is a technology and manufacturing plant for wind and solar power electronics systems opened by the Spanish-German group in 2018, employing almost 200 people.

Siemens Gamesa said in a statement sent to Recharge: “As a precautionary measure and to reduce the risk of contagion, the company has decided to close the plant and proceed to its disinfection. Employees that had contact with the affected employee will remain working from home.”

The global wind group has its headquarters in Zamudio and employs about 4,800 people at six sites in Spain, which this weekend joined Italy in imposing severe restrictions on movement and public gatherings in response to the outbreak.

A company spokeswoman said of its Spanish staff: “All office employees are working from home while production employees continue to go to their workplaces, but must follow a special safe work protocol for factory workers to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.”

More widely the company said despite the increasingly global disruption caused by the virus, it is “seeking to ensure that we can continue to deliver products and services to our customers.

“We have therefore put in place rigorous protocols that allow us to maintain our operating activities – including manufacturing, installation and service – without compromising the health of our employees. We will continue to monitor the situation very closely and adjust our activities accordingly.”

Along with Vestas of Denmark and France-based, US-owned GE Renewable Energy, Siemens Gamesa is one of the big three western wind OEMs supplying the global market.

Analysts at BloombergNEF said last week there was “considerable downside risk” to its earlier forecasts for global wind deployment in 2020, while industry body WindEurope said today that it expected the impacts on the European sector to be felt as the number of infections increases.