Spain – Iberdrola has begun commissioning the Herrera II wind complex in Castilla y León. It consists of three farms – La Huesca, Valdesantos and Orbanejoa – with 63 MW of installed capacity and a total of 14 wind turbines. It will generate enough electricity to supply the equivalent of 60,000 households per year and will prevent the release of 50,000 t CO2/year into the atmosphere.
Iberdrola has spent €70 million developing the wind complex and stimulating the region’s industrial sector. The development employed around 800 people and almost all the on-site civil works were entrusted to local companies. Likewise, in most cases, the components of these wind turbines have been manufactured in Spain: the multipliers in Burgos, the nacelles in Soria, and the turbines in Cantabria.
Powerfull
The SG 4.5-145 wind turbines installed at Herrera II, with 70-metre-long blades and a diameter of 145 m – three times larger than that of the first wind turbines – are the most powerful and largest onshore wind turbines in Spain, with a unit power of 4.5 MW, almost seven times greater than that of the first wind turbines installed in our country more than two decades ago.
The Orbaneja and La Huesa wind farms have been built in the municipalities of Isar, Las Quintanillas, Rabé de las Calzadas and Estepar: The first of these consists of seven wind turbines, with a total installed capacity of 31.5 MW, while the second has four turbines totalling 18 MW. Valdesantos, on the other hand, has been built in Estepar and has three wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 13.5 MW.
Expansion plans
With the commissioning of the Herrera II wind farms, Castilla y León is establishing its position as an important centre for renewable energy developments in the company’s investment cycle up to 2025.
In the province of Burgos alone, the company has recently built or is developing more than 550 MW in projects such as Ballestas and Casetona (69 MW), Fuenteblanca (10 MW), Buniel (114 MW), Valdemoro (50 MW), Iglesias (94 MW) and Alcocero de Mola (102 MW); as well as the Revilla Vallejera photovoltaic installation (50 MW) and two hybrid photovoltaic plants in the pipeline in Ballestas and Casetona (69 MW).
Over the coming years, Iberdrola plans to develop more than 2,400 MW of renewable energy in the region – wind and photovoltaic – for which it will allocate investments in excess of €2bn. According to PNIEC estimates, this volume of resources will stimulate industry and create jobs for 18,000 people.
