Nonetheless, the region has benefited from the development of renewable energies in Europe at various levels —firstly, through FDI in wind power generation by many European firms (Iberdrola, ACCIONA, Fenosa, SN Power, Enel, GDF Suez and others) and in component manufacturing capacity, particularly in Brazil (Vestas, Siemens and Alstom, among others). Direct investment by these firms, which have more than a decade of experience in wind power in their countries of origin, have driven the development of the wind power industry at a pace that would have been impossible without this knowledge transfer. Moreover, the opportunity to develop wind power in Latin America has given these European firms an area of expansion that they needed when the sector was going through a major crisis in Europe.