Siemens Gamesa and Capital Energy, the renewable energy developer, have announced the signing of a new agreement for the installation of a 52-megawatt (MW) wind project in the province of Albacete, in the southeast of Spain.

Renewable energy in Spain

In a statement, the firms said that the project is the second to be signed between them. The La Herrada wind power plant will be equipped with 10 SG 5.0-145 wind turbines, which will operate at a nominal capacity of 5.2 MW, a model well-suited for sites with medium-level wind speeds. It is scheduled to be commissioned in the first half of 2024.
The agreement also includes the maintenance of the wind turbines for a period of 20 years, the statement added.

“This second contract with Capital Energy reinforces our special relationship with one of the most active and fastest-growing players in the wind industry in Spain. We are very pleased to work together with them to support Spain’s energy transition, a market with very ambitious renewable energy targets where we are leaders with more than a 50% market share,” said Paulo Soares, CEO of Siemens Gamesa’s Southern European, African and Latin American operations.
The energy that this wind power plant will produce will help to avoid the emission of 140,000 metric tonnes of CO2 a year, the equivalent to the emissions of around 80,000 vehicles. To achieve these CO2 savings, 2.2m trees would need to be planted. In addition, it will provide enough electricity to power 41,000 households.
“It is a great satisfaction for us to be able to seal such an important contract with one of the most important wind turbine suppliers in the world,” said Juan José Sánchez, CEO of Capital Energy. “This new agreement with Siemens Gamesa, which I am sure is a prelude to many others to come, represents a new milestone in the fulfilment of our business plan, with which we continue to promote a green and fair energy transition.”
The 10 nacelles of these wind turbines will be assembled at the Ágreda plant in Spain, and the gearboxes and the electrical components will be produced at several other Siemens Gamesa factories also located in Spain, the company said.

Highest rate of renewable energy growth

Siemens Gamesa has nearly 15-gigawatts (GW) of installed wind energy across Spain, representing 53% of the total installed capacity in the country, which, according to the latest available data from the Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE), reached 28.1GW in 2021.
Spain offers one of the highest rates of expected renewable energy growth. The goal set by the Spanish government for 2030 is to achieve 42% of final energy use from renewables, compared to 20% in 2020, with the stake of renewable energy in the electricity mix rising to 74%, and to 100% by 2050.
New renewable energy auctions in Spain are among the measures planned to help meet this growth in renewables with an estimated allocation of 20 GW by 2025, half of which will be in wind energy, the statement concluded.