Iberdrola gets permit to repower 49.5-MW wind farm in Spain

Spanish utility Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE) said on Monday that it has secured an environmental permit for its first wind farm repowering project in Spain’s central region of Castile La Mancha, where it will replace old turbines at the 49.5-MW Molar de Molinar wind farm.

This wind farm, located in Albacete province, was equipped with 75 pieces of 660-kW turbines and commissioned in 2001. As part of the repowering project, Iberdrola will take down the old machines and replace them with 11 units of the 4.5-MW Vestas turbines.

The utility said that it is also working to obtain permits for the repowering of the 48-MW Isabela wind farm in Albacete. Isabela will be stripped of its 64 units of 750-kW turbines and have 11 new Vestas turbines instead: six of 4.5 MW and five of 4.2 MW.

Together, the two projects will reduce the number of turbines by 117 and increase power production by 30%, Iberdrola said.

The company received EUR 22.71 million (USD 24.2m) in grants from the Spanish state to repower the two wind farms. The funds were awarded under the circular repowering programme by the ministry for ecological transition, through its implementing agency IDAE.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.065)

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