Mingyang eyes Spain after UK block

Mingyang Smart Energy, the Chinese offshore wind turbine manufacturer whose planned £1.5 billion Scottish factory was blocked by the UK government on national security grounds, is in active discussions with the Spanish government over a potential European manufacturing base.

The company produces large-scale offshore wind turbines, principally its MySE 18.X series, rated above 18 MW, alongside solar, storage, and hydrogen systems. It ranks as the fifth largest wind turbine manufacturer globally and the second largest in offshore wind installations. Its principal competitors in Europe are Siemens Gamesa, the world leader in offshore wind and headquartered in Spain, and Vestas. Mingyang's argument for market entry rests on scale: it contends there is no direct European alternative to its 18.5 MW platform at comparable cost, a gap no European original equipment manufacturer currently fills.

The investment conditionality is explicit. Mingyang has stated it would commit to a factory only with confirmation that its turbines are eligible for the Spanish market.

"We would invest in a factory if we had the assurance that our turbines were eligible for the market." — Unnamed Mingyang spokesperson, per Reuters.

Chairman Zhang Chuanwei gave the strategic timeline in April 2026.

"We will not be affected by the development in the UK as we are pushing ahead our European strategy." — Zhang Chuanwei, Chairman, Mingyang Smart Energy.

He added the company would select a European site within the first half of 2026 or no later than this year. Aman Wang, Mingyang's chief executive for the UK, Ireland and Nordic region, confirmed an original shortlist of 194 European ports had been reduced to five undisclosed locations.

Spain's geography makes it a structurally relevant candidate. The country's coastline is generally too steep for fixed-bottom offshore wind technology, which means floating structures are the primary route to developing offshore capacity at scale. Mingyang's 18+ MW platform is designed precisely for that application.

The timing coincides with Spain's first offshore wind tender process. Spain's Ministry for the Ecological Transition opened a public consultation in February 2026 on a draft ministerial order establishing the regulatory bases for the country's first floating offshore wind auction. Over 40 offshore wind pre-projects are currently undergoing administrative processing in Spain, representing a combined capacity of more than 20 GW. The ministerial order, not yet adopted, will specify industrial-benefit criteria that could directly determine whether a Chinese manufacturer's turbines qualify for auction eligibility.

The European context adds regulatory uncertainty. The European Commission opened a review of Chinese renewable energy manufacturers in 2024 over competitiveness concerns, but findings have not yet been published, meaning no formal barrier currently blocks Mingyang's eligibility in Spain or elsewhere in the bloc.

The Italian precedent is instructive. In 2024, Mingyang and developer Renexia signed a memorandum of understanding with Italy's Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy for local turbine production and supply of the 18.8 MW model for the proposed 2.8 GW Med Wind floating project. That structure, government-backed market access linked to manufacturing commitment, is the template Mingyang is now attempting to replicate on the Iberian Peninsula.

The UK reversal removed two projects from Mingyang's European order book. Green Volt, the Scottish floating wind project for which Mingyang had been selected as preferred supplier, dropped the company following the government announcement. The 300 MW Waterkant project in Germany, where Mingyang's 18.5 MW turbines had also been planned, switched to Siemens Gamesa.

Vestas has moved quickly to fill the vacancy in the UK. Following the Mingyang veto, Vestas announced an intention to invest more than €250 million in a nacelle and hub factory in Scotland, expected to be operational between 2029 and 2030 and creating up to 500 direct jobs. The logic is direct: auction volume justifies local manufacturing. Spain's first auction could trigger the same calculation for Mingyang in Iberia, if the ministerial order is written to permit it.

The Spanish government is not a passive host in this process. The industrial-benefit criteria it writes into the pending ministerial order will function as the on-off switch for Mingyang's factory decision. Whatever the company's platform capabilities, the investment will not follow the discussions unless Spain's auction design confirms turbine eligibility, making a procurement document, not a bilateral trade agreement, the instrument that determines whether Chinese offshore wind manufacturing arrives on the Iberian Peninsula.