- The Casa wind farm, with a total capacity of 30 MW, will be the first in Spain to use wind turbines with an output of more than 2 MW.
- Work has begun on the 17 MW first phase of the Coto de Codesas wind farm, with potential for expansion to a total capacity of 47 MW.
Rome, Madrid, 12 February 2007 - ENEL UNION FENOSA Renovables (Eufer) has started construction of two wind plants in Galicia (north-western Spain) as part of a strategic wind power project for the area. The plants of Casa and Coto de Codesas, located in the provinces of Lugo and La Coruña, respectively, will be operational by the end of the year and will have an installed capacity of 77 MW.
The Casa wind farm, with a total installed capacity of 29.9 MW, will be composed of 13 Siemens wind turbines of 2.3 MW each. This is the first time that a wind power project in Spain will operate with turbines with an output of more than 2 MW.
Eufer has also started construction of the Coto de Codesas wind plant. In the first phase of the project 20 wind turbines with a capacity of 0.85 MW each will be installed. Construction will be completed by the end of the year, to be followed by the second phase, which will involve the installation of a maximum of 35 turbines, bringing the total potential capacity of the plant to 46.8 MW.
The total annual generation capacity of the installation will be 201.6 GWh, an achievement made possible by favourable geographic position of the Galicia region, which is well-suited for generating electricity from the wind.
The power generated will be sufficient to meet the annual consumption of about 60,000 households and will avoid the emission of 80,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.
These two projects are part of the broader 28 MW from hydroelectric power and about 100 MW from wind farms that Eufer is planning to roll out this year in Galicia. During 2007, the renewable energy company plans to achieve at least 300 MW of renewable energy, which would bring a 30% increase over the total capacity produced in 2006.
Enel
Enel is one of the leading electricity companies in the world with 53,000 MW of installed capacity, 19,000 MW of which are from renewable energy sources such as hydropower, geothermic, wind, solar and biomass. It is the largest power company in Italy, and is second in the distribution and sale of gas. The company has over 32 million electricity customers and more than 2 million gas customers, and over 3 million electricity customers in Spain and Romania. In Spain, it has established a major presence through its Viesgo subsidiary (2,400 MW) and the Eufer joint venture.
Enel launched a five-year plan (20072011) for the development of renewable energy sources and for research and development of new environmentally friendly technologies with an overall investment of 4,1 billion euros.