The 1.5-MW wind turbine was officially inaugurated this week by Mexican President, Felipe Calderón, in the presence of other Mexican authorities and Acciona managers, and has been described as “a symbol of how clean energies can contribute to reducing emissions and to the stabilisation of the climate on our planet”.
The wind turbine was manufactured by Acciona Windpower and installed by Acciona Energy at the request of the Mexican government. The electricity it generates will be used by the state-owned Mexican Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to supply electricity to the city of Cancun. Acciona will also undertake the maintenance of the wind turbine during its working life.
The AW-70/1500 turbine is located south of Cancun very close to the venues of COP16, the world conference on climate change. It has an 80-metre high steel tower with 34-metre long blades and a rotor diameter of 70 metres. According to Acciona, the machine is located on a site with a good wind resource providing 3,000 equivalent hours of production at full capacity, and is capable of generating clean electricity to supply 2,300 homes in Mexico.
Acciona Energy already has a strong presence in Mexico, materialised in the 250.5 MW Eurus wind farm, the biggest in Latin America and the largest built by the company to date. Located at Juchitán de Zaragoza (Oaxaca state), it represented an investment of $550 million and consists of 167 1.5-MW wind turbines with Acciona Windpower technology, similar to the model now installed in Cancun.
The production from Eurus is sent to CEMEX plants in Mexico and is equivalent to the consumption of a city of 500,000 people, thus avoiding the emission of 600,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere per year.
Acciona Energy is currently investing around $600 million to construct three more wind farms in the state of Oaxaca housing 204 turbines with a total capacity of 306 MW.
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