Iberdrola Renewables increases its existing 50% stake in the Murcian wind energy enterprise

The transaction helps to cement Iberdrola Renovables’ standing as the leading company in the development of renewable energies in Spain, where its assets already exceed 5,500 MW.

Iberdrola Renovables has acquired the remaining 50% of the equity in the company Energías Renovables de la Región de Murcia (ERRM) from Caja de Ahorros de Murcia and various local enterprises.

The Spanish renewable energies giant, which was already the company’s majority shareholder through its 50% stake, has now acquired 100% of Murcia’s first wind power company.

Energías Renovables de La Región de Murcia, founded in 2001, has an installed capacity of 140 megawatts (MW). Its wind farms boast an annual output capable of meeting the energy needs of nearly 200,000 people, while curbing annual CO2 emissions by 127,000 tonnes.

The company currently has six wind farms in operation: Buey (19.6 MW), Gavilanes (22.5 MW), Gavilanes II, (15.3 MW), Almendros (20 MW), Almendros II (28 MW) and Reventones (34 MW), all located in the Murcian region of Altiplano.

All the wind turbines are already being monitored by the Renewable Energies Operations Centre of Toledo (Centro de Operación de Energías Renovables de Toledo, or CORE), a global reference point for renewable energies, which provides around-the-clock control, 365 days a year, of the wind farms, minihydro power plants and associated substations that Iberdrola Renovables operates worldwide.

The ERRM has injected fresh life into the region’s social and economic climate, creating 50 direct jobs in the maintenance and operation of the wind farms and requiring roughly 100 workers to construct it.

The transaction helps to cement Iberdrola Renovables’ standing as the leading company in the development of renewable energies in Spain, where its assets already exceed 5,500 MW of installed capacity.

The company now has more than 180 wind farms throughout Spain (totalling 5,200 MW), 135 minihydro power stations (342 MW), the Puertollano (Ciudad Real) solar thermal plant (CSP 50 MW) and its first forest biomass plant in Corduente in Guadalajara province (2 MW).

Iberdrola Renovables, with operations in 23 countries, is the world leader in wind energy in both installed capacity (with nearly 11,000 MW at the end of 2009) and output (over 21,000 million kWh).

www.iberdrolarenovables.es