WPD Internationally Successful With Wind Farms In Spain And Finland
Bremen, Germany - The Bremen-based WPD AG is expanding its international activities. In doing so, WPD starts construction work for another Spanish WPD wind farm in the Torozos Plateau in north-western Spain. WPD is also focusing on the Northern European market. In the Finnish Kuuronkallio project, yields in the first few months of 2020 have exceeded expectations.
In track: construction work for another Spanish WPD wind farm underway
After the implementation of three projects in record time in 2019, the Bremen wind farm developer and operator WPD AG is continuing its commitment to the Spanish wind energy market with the construction of the "Corralnuevo" wind farm. This project is the fourth project within the Torozos Project Cluster in the Torozos Plateau in the region of Castilla y León in north-western Spain.
The wind farm with a total capacity of almost 42 megawatts (MW) consists of 12 Siemens Gamesa G132 wind turbines (3.4 MW) and will be connected to the Spanish power grid via the connection point in La Mudarra, the largest substation in the northeast of the country. "The ground works are progressing very well, so that despite the Corona pandemic, the construction process is completely on schedule," said Arvid Hesse, the responsible country manager, about the progress of the project. "The Corralnuevo project shows how well wpd is positioned even in difficult times and in a very competitive market," adds board member Dr. Hartmut Brösamle. The completion of the work and the feed-in of the first electricity are expected in the 4th quarter of 2020.
The Torozos plateau, where the wind farms El Poleo, Las Panaderas and Navillas already produce green electricity, is considered as the "engine of the Spanish energy revolution", said WPD. The WPD wind parks already connected to the grid have a total nominal output of 135 MW. After completion of the final project phase, the total nominal output of the Torozos portfolio will rise to 177 MW.
Finnish WPD wind farm off to an above-average start
In September 2018 WPD signed a contract with Google for the direct marketing of wind power from WPD's Kuuronkallio wind farm in in the Central Ostrobothnia region of Western Finland. Google operates a large data centre in Hamina, 150 km east of Helsinki. The WPD project with a total capacity of 58.8 MW supports Google in its strategy to cover its energy consumption without CO2 emissions and to position itself for the future in terms of sustainable business.
The Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) provides for WPD, to supply more than 200 million kilowatt hours (million kWh) of wind power annually from 2020. As the wind farm developer and operator points out, the company is now more than satisfied with the first months of 2020, as above-average wind power yields can be recorded with a production of more than 90 million kWh.
Most of the wind farm's infrastructure - such as roads, parking areas, foundations and cables - was built by regional companies as early as 2018, with WPD construction Finland Oy taking over the overall management of the construction site. The system installation by the manufacturer Vestas was carried out almost smoothly and according to schedule. In January the last of the 14 Vestas V150 4.2 MW turbines with a hub height of 155 m were fully commissioned.
WPD has been developing projects in Finland with a team on site for more than 10 years now and relies on a transparent and personal exchange. "The wind farms that we have successfully started up in Finland during the past few years are our best business reference for future projects”, continues Managing Director Heikki Peltomaa of WPD Finland.
Source: IWR Online, 19 May 2020
