The construction of two new wind farms in Hawaii and Mexico has been completed and the turbines are turning.
First Wind last week announced the start of commercial operations at its 21 MW Kaheawa Wind II project in West Maui.
The wind farm, which completes the Kaheawa project that first went online in 2006, features a state-of-the-art battery storage system developed by Xtreme Power to smooth out fluctuations in output.
“[This] has the distinction of being our 13th wind facility to go online in six years,” says Paul Gaynor, CEO of First Wind. “We now have projects in operation in five different states, but Hawaii has always shown a unique understanding and true leadership when it comes to developing home-grown sources of energy.”
The Kaheawa Wind facility has a combined capacity of 51 MW and generates enough power for 18,700 homes. Local utility the Maui Electric Company has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with the wind farm.
Meanwhile, Spanish renewable developer Gamesa has finished construction on Enel Green Power’s 74 MW Bii Nee Stipa II wind farm in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
The Italian renewable energy company’s wind farm in the high wind resource area of the isthmus of Tehuantepec features 37 of Gamesa’s G80-2.0 MW wind turbines and will be able to produce up to 250 million kWh a year, avoiding emissions of some 100,000 tonnes of CO2.
Gamesa has a growing presence in Latin America, with some 100 MW already installed in Mexico and a further 70 MW at various stages of development. Across the region as a whole, the company has installed more than 540 MW of wind power with Latin America now accounting for around 30% of its total megawatt sales.
For further information:
www.firstwind.com
www.gamesacorp.com
www.enelgreenpower.com/
Related stories:
Principle Power and partners float Portugal’s first offshore wind turbine (19-Jun)
World’s largest wind farm opens for business (15-Jun)
Vestas wins share of 1 GW South African renewables tender (22-May)
Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5253/
