Thanks to the four new wind farms in Nebrodi, Alcántara, Lago Arancio and Rocca Ficuzza, installed capacity in Italy stands at over 244 MW.
This development cements Iberdrola’s position as one of Europe’s leading wind power players, with installed capacity across 11 countries totalling 8,360 MW
Iberdrola, global leader in wind power, has commissioned the Messina-Agrigento wind power complex on the island of Sicily. With capacity of over 178 megawatts (MW), this complex is one of the largest renewable power facilities in Italy.
This project, developed jointly (50/50) with Italy’s API Nova Energía, part of the API business group, encompasses four wind farms: Nebrodi (64.6 MW), Alcántara (47.6 MW), Lago Arancio (44 MW) and Rocca Ficuzza (22.1 MW).
The Messina-Agrigento complex has enough capacity to enable the company to supply more than 150,000 Sicilian homes with green energy, thereby preventing around 430,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year.
Following the start-up of this new complex, whose construction began in June 2010 and ended this month, IBERDROLA has lifted installed wind power capacity in Italy to over 244 MW (50% with the API group), cementing its position as one of the leading renewable players in this market.
The company is already operating another major wind power complex in Italy, namely the Sant’Agata facility in the province of Foggia, also encompassing four wind farms, with combined capacity of 66.35 MW.
The inauguration of this large development consolidates Iberdrola’s position as one of Europe’s leading wind power players, with installed capacity across 11 countries totalling 8,360 MW. The company is currently the top-ranked wind power operator by capacity in Spain, the UK, Greece and Hungary.
Benchmark player in Italy
The commissioning of the Messina-Agrigento complex has reactivated the local economy in its two home provinces, Messina and Agrigento. Construction of the facility provided direct work to around 1,000 people, with another 3,450 benefitting indirectly. The plant’s operation and maintenance has created another 40 permanent direct jobs. Moreover, dozens of local suppliers, including Maltauro and GES Italia, worked with IBERDROLA on this project.
All the facilities comprising this new wind power hub are equipped with Gamesa technology, consolidating this company’s role as IBERDROLA’s chief global supplier. Indeed, of the Group’s total installed capacity of over 14,000 MW, almost 9,000 MW across 14 different countries is equipped with Gamesa technology.
More specifically, the Nebrodi, Rocca Ficuzza and Alcántara wind farms use the 55-metre tall G52 wind turbine generator (WTG), while the Lago Arancio facility uses the G87 WTG, with a tower height of 78 metres.
Iberdrola’s strategic commitment to this market was recently acknowledged in the form of the prize for the Best Spanish Company in Italy 2011 awarded by the local Spanish Chamber of Commerce for its work in promoting renewable energy.
With this award, the Chamber of Commerce also sought to highlight “the values, commitment and enthusiastic and expert work carried out by Iberdrola in Italy, its collaboration with Italian companies and its contribution to the successful promotion of Spanish business credentials”.
The Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Italy is a non-profit organisation founded in Milan in 1953 by Spanish and Italian entrepreneurs. Its mission is to strengthen commercial relations between the two countries.
With renewable operations in 23 countries, Iberdrola is the world leader in its sector by both capacity (nearly 14,000 MW at the end of March 2012) and output (over 20,700 million kilowatt hours generated in 2011).
