Presentation of Wind Power Industry Re-launch Plan

The Ministry for Industry, Energy and Tourism hosted the presentation of the Wind Power Industry Re-launch Plan (Spanish acronym: PRIE), which seeks to boost Spanish industry with a high technological content.

The event, chaired by the State Secretary for Energy, Alberto Nadal, was also attended by the Directors-General for Industry, Víctor Audera, and for SMEs, Innovation and Competitiveness, María Luisa Castaño, and for International Trade and Investment, Antonio José Fernández-Martos, as well as the President of the Wind Power Business Association (Spanish acronym: AEE), Juan Diego Díaz, who presented the plan drawn up to help re-launch the wind power industry.

The industrial sector plays a key role in the recovery process as a generator of growth and employment. Against a backdrop of high competitiveness at a global level, it is essential to adapt productive capacities, diversify products and clients, and make logistics more flexible.

The wind power industry is a strategic sector both in Spain and in Europe, with Spanish companies forming part of the whole industry value chain, having a high technological profile and a high export capacity. The industry is well placed to play a key role in the change of the national economic structure towards a future model geared towards creating value and acknowledging the quality of Spanish products in international markets.

15 measures under the plan

The Wind Power Industry Re-launch Plan (Spanish acronym: PRIE) contains a series of specific measures, agreed between the wind power sector and the government, designed to make the domestic market more dynamic, increase export capacity and the international presence of companies, as well as to boost R&D+i.

The PRIE comprises a set of 15 measures grouped around three core themes: measures for industrial development, measures to drive exports and international presence, and measures to foster R&D+i.

By developing the three core areas of the PRIE, three goals are sought: to improve the product capacity of the wind power sector, to ensure access by industry to international markets through competitive, high-quality products, and boosting R&D+i to continue heading up cutting-edge technology.

This action falls with the framework of the actions on the agenda to strengthen the industrial sector in Spain approved by the government and which includes boosting high technological values sectors among its goals. To this end, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Competitiveness have worked together to establish the main lines of future action.

As the President of the Spanish Wind Power Association (AEE) explained, the application of the PRIE could lead to a 35% increase in the value of exports from the sector up to an annual average of 3 billion euros in 2020; the creation of 3,500 new industrial jobs, additional tax revenue of between 30 and 40 million euros annually, National Insurance contributions for a value of 35 million euros per annum, and a significant boost towards achieving the binding targets of 20% of gross energy demand by the year 2020.

Spanish wind power sector, global leader

Spain is the third leading country in Europe in the manufacture of wind turbines and the fifth in the world. It is also the third leading global exporter of wind turbines.

The knock-on effect of wind power is one of the greatest because all the activities in the value chain are carried on in Spain (promotion, construction, manufacture and services). The sector has 195 manufacturing centres in 12 autonomous regions and creates five times more jobs that conventional generation technologies.

There are 12 research centres and 14 universities with activities in the sector. This all leads to the maintenance of the standards of internationally competitive productivity.

There are currently 1,077 wind farms in close to 800 municipalities, which have a proven revitalising effect on the rural communities in which they are established.