Latin America - Gamesa and Iberdrola to build a 102-MW wind farm in Honduras

The contract to build the Cerro de Hula wind farm calls for a “turnkey” project with scheduled completion in 18 months. The new wind farm will consist of 51 Gamesa G87-2 MW wind turbines.

A consortium made up of Gamesa and Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción has received a contract to build a Honduran wind farm, known as Cerro de Hula, a wind power project which will have 102 MW of installed capacity.

Gamesa controls 76% of the venture, while Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción controls the remaining 24%. The wind farm's customer is Mesoamérica Energy, a company that develops renewable energy projects in Central America and neighbouring countries via its local subsidiary, Energía Eólica de Honduras.

The wind farm project has a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) contract with Honduras’ Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica, and will be financed with funds from the US Export-Import Bank and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.

The contract to build the Cerro de Hula wind farm calls for a “turnkey” project with scheduled completion in 18 months. The new wind farm will consist of 51 Gamesa G87-2 MW wind turbines.

The wind energy contract includes electricity grid interconnection, land accesses to the site, civil works, transport and electromechanical erection of the wind turbines. In addition, it includes maintenance services for a period of two years from the date the wind farm begins operating.

For Gamesa, the scope of the contract encompasses the manufacture, supply, transport and erection of the wind turbines, including supervision and start-up of the turbines. Meanwhile, Iberdrola Ingeniería will design and build the wind turbine foundations, access roads and erection platforms. It will also be responsible for construction of the site’s Operation and Maintenance building and the design and execution of a system for exporting the wind farm’s energy to the grid.

The last point includes a medium tension (MT) system of 34.5 kV from the wind turbines to the collector substation, trenches for MT cables and the grounding system; a 34.5/230 kV step-up substation and 230 kV interconnection lines and operations at the 230 kV substations at either end.

Strategic position in Latin America

By winning this bid, both companies bolster their strategic position in Latin America, where Gamesa has installed more than 200 MW of wind energy in five countries, primarily Mexico. In Mexico, the company recently signed a long-term agreement (10 years) to supply 100% of the wind turbines for the wind farms Cannon Power Group will develop in Baja California.

Meanwhile, Iberdrola Ingeniería has a significant presence in Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil, with the latter home to an innovative Iberdrola Ingeniería project to repower and modernise the Angra nuclear plant. The company is the No. 1 builder of wind farms in Mexico. Further highlights of its Mexican business include boosting nominal capacity by 20% at the Laguna Verde nuclear plant and building La Venta III wind farm.

With more than 15 years’ experience, Gamesa is a world leader in the design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of wind turbines, with more than 18,000 MW installed in 20 countries on four continents.

The company is also a global benchmark in the market for the development, construction and sale of wind farms, with more than 3,500 MW installed and a wind farm portfolio totalling 22,000 MW at varying stages of development in Europe, America and Asia.

With 30 manufacturing facilities in Europe, the USA, China and India, and 4,400 MW of annual manufacturing capacity, Gamesa has an international workforce of more than 6,300 people.

Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iberdrola and is headquartered in Erandio, Spain. It is the world’s No. 3 energy engineering company in terms of turnover and the biggest in the Spanish power industry. It has projects in over 30 countries in Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Middle East, and its activities include engineering for the power generation and distribution sectors, nuclear power and renewable energies.

It ended 2009 with a project pipeline exceeding €2.5 billion, 10% more than a year earlier. Eighty-seven percent of the portfolio consisted of projects outside of Spain, vs. 81% in 2008. Additionally, third-party contracts rose by 33% in 2009, to nearly €1,425 million. Its total workforce exceeds 2,400 people.

For more information please contact Trevor Sievert at ts@windfair.net