Spain gets 11 new wind farms

Iberdrola has announced that its renewable energy division, IbeRenova, has obtained authorisation to install the new farms, worth a total of 400 million euros (£246 million). Nine of the parks will be situated in the flat central province of Guadalajara, with a total capacity of 382 MegaWatts (MW), while the other two will also be established in the country’s centre in Soria province, with 100 MW capacity. The farms will boost Spanish capacity by 20% and improve its position as world’s third largest wind producer (see related story).

The plants, which will be up and running by the beginning of 2003, form part of IbeRenova’s larger plan to construct 70 wind plants in six central provinces in the Autonomous Communities of Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla-León of which 27 will be eventually be situated in Guadalajara and the same number in Soria. The company also aims to develop wind farms in the Autonomous Communities of Aragón, Extremadura and Valencia, as well as in Portugal, Central America and Brazil at a total cost of 1.3 billion euros (£800 million) between 2001-5.