Acciona completes three wind energy plants in Mexico totaling 306 MW

This week Acciona Energy will complete the assembly of three wind farms in Oaxaca (Mexico) with a total capacity of 306 megawatts (MW) and an investment of over 450 million euros. This allows the company to strengthen its position as the biggest wind power developer in the country, with 556.5 MW of installed capacity and a market share of 65 per cent.

This was revealed today by the Managing Director of Acciona Energy Mexico, Miguel Ángel Alonso, during a seminar on the Mexican wind power sector held as part of the International Wind PowerExpo 2011 Fair held in Zaragoza.

This morning the fair’s opening ceremony has been attended by the Managing Director of Acciona Energy, Rafael Mateo, who has greeted the Aragon’s Minister for Economy and Employment Francisco Bono and the regional General Director for Energy and Mines Ana Marina Sevilla at Acciona’s booth.

Excellent wind resource

The three wind farms (Oaxaca II, Oaxaca III and Oaxaca IV), each with a capacity of 102 MW, were awarded to Acciona in March 2010 in a public tender called by the Mexican Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). The assembly of the last turbine will be completed this week, and all the turbines will be powered up and gradually connected to the grid, a process that will take place from October to December this year.

Located in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, an area with excellent wind resources, the three wind energy parks have a total of 204 ACCIONA Windpower wind turbines of 1.5 MW.

Acciona already has a 250.5 MW wind park in Mexico – Eurus, operational since 2009- that supplies electricity to plants of the cement company Cemex in the country. It is the biggest wind park in Latin America in terms of installed capacity, and is located in the same area as the three being built now.

Acciona Energy has strengthened its international profile with this project, which represents 33% of the company’s international wind power capacity.

In a speech at Wind PowerExpo 2011, Miguel Ángel Alonso highlighted the fact that Mexico is an expanding country with an estimated average growth rate in energy consumption of 3.6% from 2009 to 2024 and a strong political commitment to diversifying its energy system.

To achieve this -according to Alonso- the Mexican Government has opted to increase the exploitation of its renewable energy resources. In wind power alone capacity of over 10,000 MW has been identified, in comparison with around 800 MW installed at present. The Government will support this process legislatively through a new Act of Exploitation of Renewable Energy and the Energy Transition Financing program approved in 2006.

Mr. Alonso also highlighted the contribution of the Company to the socioeconomic development of the country and the area affected most closely, both in terms of the creation of an industrial fabric related to the sector (manufacture of components, transport, logistics, etc.) and activities to develop the community socially.

In this respect, the Acciona manager described a number of community development initiatives carried out by the company with the inhabitants of the region -mostly from to the Zapotec ethnic group- such as reforestation, the promotion of the production of handicrafts, general education and vocational training programs, the improvement of local infrastructures and the promotion of self-employment programs.

By José Santamarta, www.acciona.com/