Iberdrola Renovables builds four new wind farms in Hungary

Iberdrola Renovables has brought the Csoma I wind farm (38 MW) on stream, with a further 70 MW of capacity under construction across three wind farm sites, Csoma II, Amundsen and Scott. Iberdrola Renovables already operates the Kisigmand wind farm (50 MW), Hungary’s largest.

When these wind energy facilities come into operation, the company’s aggregate capacity of 160 MW and 50% market share will make it Hungary’s largest wind power operator.

Iberdrola Renovables, the global leader in wind power, has taken the industry lead in Hungary by building four new farms that will take its combined installed capacity in the country to 158 MW.

This wind turbines capacity will enable the company to generate enough energy in Hungary to supply 220,000 households, while curbing yearly CO2 emissions by 130,000 tonnes.

This month, Iberdrola Renovables has commissioned Csoma I, a wind farm in the northern Hungarian province of Komárom-Esztergom, outside the city of Komárom. The facility boasts nineteen Gamesa G90 wind turbines, with unit capacity of 2 MW, making for an aggregate of 38 MW.

Iberdrola Renovables has a further three sites under construction, totalling 70 MW capacity: the Scott (36 MW), Csoma II (8 MW) and Amundsen (26 MW) wind farms.

The company already operates the Kisigmand site in the Hungarian province of Komárom-Esztergom. With 50 MW of installed capacity, this wind farm is the country’s largest.

All the group’s Hungarian sites are built by its subsidiary Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción, now one of the world’s leading energy engineering firms.

A benchmark company in Eastern Europe

Geographical diversification is one of Iberdrola Renovables’ main competitive advantages. Its international strategy focuses on growing in markets with favourable regulatory systems and high development potential in the renewable energies sector.

At present, the United States and Europe are the company’s key markets while Eastern Europe has been earmarked as a major target area for achieving growth in the coming years.

With an Eastern European energy project portfolio of close to 4,500 MW, Iberdrola Renovables has in fact already become the region’s industry leader.

In addition to its Hungarian sites, the company operates four wind farms in Poland with a combined capacity of 160 MW. Further projects are under development in Romania, Poland, Hungary, Estonia and Bulgaria.

One of the highlights is Dobrogea in the Constanza area of Romania. This, the world’s most ambitious onshore wind project, envisions the commissioning of up to 50 farms with a combined capacity of 1,500 MW. Iberdrola Renovables was recently granted a licence by the Romanian network operator Transelectrica to connect this planned capacity to the grid, and construction work is already underway.

With operations in 23 countries, Iberdrola Renovables is the world leader in wind energy by both installed capacity (more than 11,400 MW at the end of the first half of 2010) and output (close to 13,000 million kWh in the first half of 2010).

www.iberdrolarenovables.es