Alstom and Andrade Gutierrez have opened a new 30 million euro wind turbine manufacturing facility in Brazil.

The Torres Eolicas do Nordeste plant at Jacobina in Bahia will manufacture up to 200 wind turbine steel towers per year and will employ 250 people; it will also create 600 indirect jobs once production starts.

Alstom owns a 49% share of the joint-venture project, with the remaining 51% held by Andrade Gutierrez.

Alstom Wind senior vice president Yves Rannou said: “Brazil should very soon be one of the largest wind power producers in the world, so it is particularly gratifying for Alstom to open this new plant in Brazil and contribute to this growth.”

Jacobina is Alstom’s third wind power factory in Latin America. The company has already deployed more than 3,000 wind turbines in over 200 wind farms globally; these turbines have a combined generating capacity of 5.8GW.