The Enel Group, through its renewable subsidiary Enel Green Power Mexico (EGPM), began the construction of a 244-megawatt (MW) wind farm in northeastern Mexico, the Italian company announced Tuesday.
Located in the municipality of China, the Dolores wind farm is the group's first project in the state of Nuevo Leon, according to Enel's statement. The overall investment in the construction of the facility amounts to approximately $280 million, it added.
The farm is scheduled to start operation in the first half of 2020. Once fully operational, the wind farm will be able to generate approximately 850 gigawatt-hours per year, avoiding the annual emissions of around 470,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
'Dolores further strengthens our strategy in the country to address growing electricity demand and sustainable development in an impactful way by developing clean technologies in a key state which boasts outstanding wind resources,' said Antonio Cammisecra, head of Enel's global renewable energy business line, Enel Green Power.
According to the statement, the construction of Dolores will be based on Enel's 'Sustainable Construction Site' model, which includes the measuring of the project's socio-environmental impact and actions aimed at incorporating the rational use of resources. These involve water management, as well as a waste recycling project repurposing the site’s wooden pallets to produce eco-friendly furniture and shipping containers to be used by the local community.
The project is supported by a contract providing for the sale to the Mexican Center for Energy Control's Camara de Compensacion of specified volumes of energy over a 15-year period and of the related clean certificates over a 20-year period.
According to the press release, the Dolores facility is one of the four wind plants awarded to the Enel Group for a total capacity of 593 MW in the third long-term auction following the country's energy reform.
In addition to the plant in Nuevo Leon, the group was awarded the Amistad II and Amistad III projects with an installed capacity of 100 MW each, and Amistad IV with an installed capacity of 149 MW, all located in Acuna, Coahuila.
Enel Green Power Mexico is one of the largest renewable energy players in the country in terms of managed capacity, managing 2,014 MW as of today, of which 873 MW comes from wind, around 1,089 MW from solar and approx. 53 MW from hydro.
By Hale Turkes
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr