Iberdrola Renovables’ El Andévalo wind farm in Huelva is now the largest in continental Europe

Iberdrola Renovables has expanded to 292 megawatts (MW) the installed capacity of the El Andévalo wind farm in San Silvestre de Guzmán in Huelva following its acquisition of the 48-MW Los Lirios wind farm from Gamesa.

Thanks to this acquisition, the company has established this wind power complex, located between the towns of El Almendro, Alosno and Puebla de Guzmán in the south of Huelva province, as the largest renewables installation in continental Europe and one of the most important in the world.

At present only one wind farm in Europe has a larger installed capacity than El Andévalo: the 322-MW Whitelee farm in Scotland, also owned by Iberdrola Renovables.

The acquisition of the Los Lirios facility, like that of the other installations that make up the El Andévalo complex, falls under the scope of the global agreement for the sale of wind farms in Andalusia signed by Iberdrola Renovables and Gamesa Energía in 2005. This deal encompassed a total of 600 MW.

The agreement covered not only the acquisition of the wind farms that make up this complex but also the infrastructure required to transmit the electricity generated. In fact, it was necessary to construct a double circuit 120-km 220 kV power line between La Puebla de Guzmán and Guillena to connect the wind farms to the transmission grid. This has become a strategic component of the Spanish power system because it has enhanced the interconnection with Portugal.

In addition to the Los Lirios wind farm, the El Andévalo complex also contains another seven wind power facilities: Majal Alto (50 MW), El Saucito (30 MW), El Centenar (40 MW), La Tallisca (40 MW), La Retuerta (38 MW), Las Cabezas (18 MW), and Valdefuentes (28 MW).

The wind farm acquired, in common with the others in the complex, boasts Gamesa technology: the 78-metre G90 wind turbines with unit capacity of 2 MW. The complex has an annual output the equivalent of the electricity consumption of more than 140,000 households and will prevent the annual emission of 510,000 tonnes of CO2.

This facility provides a significant socio-economic boost to the region as it has created 50 direct jobs in the maintenance and operation of the wind farms and an average of more than 400 people were involved in its construction.

This acquisition consolidates Iberdrola Renovables as the leading company in the Andalusian renewables sector, with installed capacity of 856 MW, and in Spain, where its capacity now exceeds 5,700 MW.

With operations in 23 countries, Iberdrola Renovables is the world leader in wind power by both installed capacity (over 12,500 MW at the end of 2010) and output (over 25,400 million kWh in 2010).

www.iberdrolarenovables.es