Ingeteam celebrates its 50th anniversary with a tribute to its founders
Ingeteam currently employs 4,100 people and is present on all 5 continents through its production centres and sales offices.
With a record order book, Ingeteam is a key player in the electrification of society thanks to the development of its own technology
The celebration ceremony was attended by the Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu; the Deputy General of Bizkaia, Unai Rementeria; and the Government Delegate, Denis Itxaso, among other authorities
Ingeteam’s 50th anniversary celebration took place at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, with an emotional tribute to the four families that founded the company. Fifty years ago, four engineer friends returned from Germany to do postgraduate studies and, despite the difficulties of the time, decided to start up their own business. This is how TEAM was born in 1972, which later merged with Ingelectric, giving rise to Ingeteam.
From the very beginning, those four friends, Javier Madariaga, Víctor Mendiguren, Miguel Gandiaga and Alberto Belaustegui made it possible for Ingeteam to become what it is today, a company with 4,100 people, production centres in Spain – Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Navarre and Albacete. It also has production centres in Milwaukee in the USA, Brazil, Mexico and India. It also has sales offices in 24 countries. In short, Ingeteam is a multinational with a presence on all 5 continents.
The anniversary celebration was attended by the President of Ingeteam, Teresa Madariaga; the CEO of Ingeteam, Adolfo Rebollo; together with the Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu; the Deputy General of Bizkaia, Unai Rementeria; and the Government Delegate, Denis Itxaso, among other authorities. Customers, suppliers and employees of the company were also in attendance.
The President of Ingeteam, Teresa Madariaga, stated that “Ingeteam will continue along the path opened up by the four founders with the same effort, drive and enthusiasm as they did and, in this way, continue to be at the technological forefront, enabling us to celebrate at least another 50 years”.
Likewise, the CEO of Ingeteam, Adolfo Rebollo, thanked “the customers, institutions and all our colleagues who have formed part of the Ingeteam family. To those of you who are here and to those who have left us, thank you for making it possible for us to be here today celebrating Ingeteam’s 50th anniversary. Based on our convictions and our innovative potential, we want to consolidate our position as leaders in renewable generation, in storage, in smart grids, and in efficient and clean electricity consumption. We want to make an even greater contribution to changing the energy model. We will dedicate all our efforts to this in the coming years”.
Throughout these 50 years Ingeteam has managed to position itself at the forefront of technology in the sectors in which it operates: wind, solar, electric mobility, electricity grids, green hydrogen, hydraulic generation, naval, traction, steel, water, mining and energy storage, among others.
Technological milestones
Among Ingeteam’s main milestones, it is worth highlighting that in 1984 the company started working on the development of the first generation regulation systems for hydroelectric power, a generation control system later applied to wind and photovoltaic power. In the 1990s, the company specialised in the turnkey supply of turbine regulation and control equipment and all the automation of hydroelectric power plants, in collaboration with electricity companies. This decade also saw the opening of subsidiaries, starting in Germany and continuing in the Czech Republic, Mexico, France, South Africa, Chile, Thailand, Panama, the Philippines, Uruguay, Morocco, the United Kingdom, Honduras and Vietnam, among others.
In 1995, Ingeteam pioneered the development of variable speed machines, a technology that has become the gold standard in the wind power industry to date.
The company’s development of power electronics systems in the wind energy field in 2000 led to variants applicable to other forms of renewable energy, such as photovoltaic solar energy in 2001, then in its infancy.
In 2010, Ingeteam started out in the electric mobility sector by developing charging posts for electric vehicles. The company’s focus on the electrification of society, together with its technological capacity, has enabled it to position itself as one of the most important players in this sector.
Ingeteam began its activity in the energy storage sector in 2009 with several R&D projects, and in 2014, as a result of projects related to distribution substations, it built the first 9 MWh utility-scale installation, attached to a photovoltaic generation plant.
In 2021, the green hydrogen business was set up with the aim of becoming a leader in power electronics associated with green hydrogen generation.
Throughout its 50 years of existence, Ingeteam has won major contracts with world-leading companies, winning public contracts and competing with the world’s leading technologists. Its technology can be found in wind farms and photovoltaic plants all over the world, on ships and cruise ships, in desalination plants, in trains, metros and trams, in biomass plants, hydroelectric plants, steelworks, mines, among other areas.
The company is currently immersed in an ambitious strategic plan that envisages the hiring of 1,000 people over the next three years, of which more than 100 will go to the R&D area, as well as the investment of 210 million euros, of which 140 million will go to R&D to continue with its commitment to its own technology.
The company is a key player in the electrification of society, as evidenced by its record order book thanks to the development of proprietary technology. This firm commitment means that Ingeteam has been investing 5% of its annual turnover in R&D for decades.
