ACCIONA’s first wind farm, El Perdón, 20 years on

It was back in December 1994 that the first phase of El Perdón wind farm was commissioned, a facility of six wind turbine generators of 500 kW capacity each the biggest to come on stream in their day. This was the beginning of the successful journey that has transformed ACCIONA into a benchmark worldwide for the development of renewable energies.

The El Perdón complex was completed in 1995 and 1996 with 34 other turbines taking it up to 20 MW of total capacity. The facility was erected in an excellent location for wind energy, near to Pamplona in Navarre, visible from the city and accessible by road, which allowed the 200,000 population to know, from the first moment, that this was wind power, and they could see it with their own eyes, without anyone having to explain what it was all about. This ‘what you see, is what you get’ factor was to favor the acceptance of wind energy by local communities in an extraordinary way.

Tens of thousands of people visited the installation in the months and years to come. Hundreds of organizations and experts visited it with a view to copying the model in their regions or countries. From the moment it was commissioned, El Perdón gave rise to an important new industry. Renewable energy also became a part of the dynamic of school curricula, with hundreds of pupils and students touring the wind farm.

Wind power has indeed become an unmistakable byword for energy socioeconomically, environmentally and technologically. 

The Company has gone from 19 to 2,650 employees in two decades

FLAGSHIP FACILITY

• Capacity: 20 MW
• Wind turbine generators: 40 x 500 kW
• Annual average production: 67.8 GWh
• CO2  emissions avoided (*): 61,156 tons/year
• Atmospheric cleaning: Equivalent to 3.1 million trees 

(*) From coal power stations.

Brilliant growth

The 20 years that have passed since El Perdón was connected to the grid have seen the Company grow remarkably in the clean energy sector.

ACCIONA has become the biggest ‘independent’ renewable energy supplier in the world, in that it does not belong to a traditional electricity utility.

• We own 218 wind farms with a total capacity of 7,042 MW.
• We dispose of outstanding hydroelectric, photovoltaic, solar thermal and biomass assets.
• In Spain, we generate over 5% of all electricity and inject nearly 18% of wind power into the grid.
• We are leaders in Mexico and have made our presence felt in the United States, Australia and Canada.
• We are growing in Poland, Chile and South Africa.
• We have assets in India, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Hungary and Costa Rica.
• We make our own wind turbine generator and have orders for it from 18 countries.

ACCIONA Energy is today present on all five continents

No one would have imagined all of this when, in December 1994, the first six turbines were connected to the grid at El Perdón.

That was then, this is now

The wind turbine generators at El Perdón, which appeared giants when they were first installed, now seem like mere drawings compared to the turbines ACCIONA installs at its facilities today.

20 years on and the capacity of machines —comparing those at El Perdón with modern 3 MW ACCIONA Windpower turbines— has multiplied sixfold.

The first El Perdón towers are 40 meters high, whereas today they rise to 120 metres above ground. The blades, 20 meters long at the time, are now 61.2 m; the height up to the tip of the blade today reaches up to over 182 m. Modern turbines can generate more electricity, and the same or more production is achieved with fewer machines.

Today’s 3 MW ACCIONA Windpower turbines generate six times more electricity than those installed at El Perdón

The capture efficiency of wind energy has improved, too, such that the turbines start to produce and reach their maximum load at lower wind speeds, meaning they can generate for more hours per year. The technology may have improved, but the turbines at El Perdón reach the 20th birthday celebrations in perfect operating condition.

They are capable of continuing to generate electricity with complete efficiency. No one has yet been able to place a sell-by date on their useful life.

See 20 years of evolving wind power technology infographic