ACCIONA Energy begins construction work on its first windpark in Poland

With 38 MW installed capacity, it represents an investment of around 57 million euros and will be completed in 2011.

With the addition of Poland, the company will now have 13 countries in which it owns installations.

ACCIONA has a strong presence in the infrastructure sector in Poland through its subsidiary Mostostal Warszawa.

ACCIONA Energy has started construction work on the Golice windpark, the first installed by the company in Poland. With 38 MW installed capacity, it represents an investment of around 223 million zlotys (57 million euros at the current exchange rate) and will generate clean energy equivalent to the consumption of around 40,000 Polish homes. The facility means the incorporation of a new country - Poland, the thirteenth - into the list of those that have renewable energy installations that belong to the company. ACCIONA already has a strong presence in Poland through its infrastructure division.

The construction of Golice will enable ACCIONA Energy to take up a position in the Polish wind power sector, which has shown strong growth rates. In 2010, the installed wind power capacity in the country increased by 53% to an accumulated figure of 1,107 MW.

The Golice windpark will enter service at the end of 2011 and will help towards compliance of the objectives set by the Polish Government in terms of climate change by avoiding the emission of 77,625 metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere every year.

Poland's power system is highly dependent on fossil fuel, particularly coal, which contributes 92% of electricity production and 55% of primary energy. Nevertheless, the country has set itself the target of generating 15% of its electricity demand from renewables by 2020.

The Golice windpark is located in the municipality of the same name in the province of Lubuskie, in the western part of the country close to the German border, in an area with high wind power potential. It will have nineteen 2 MW wind turbines, giving a total of 38 MW. The project will be co-financed through the Social Cohesion Fund of the European Union.

Poland will become the 13th country in which ACCIONA has renewables installations in operation or under construction. It joins another six in Europe: Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Hungary; three in America: the USA, Mexico and Canada; two in Asia: India and South Korea, plus Australia.

The ACCIONA Group already has a consolidated presence in Poland in the field of infrastructures, where it has operated since 1999 through its subsidiary Mostostal Warszawa, one of the main construction companies in the country. A specialist in bridges, civil works and buildings, this company is currently building a new bridge over the river Odra, which will be one of the ten biggest concrete cable-stayed bridges in the world, in addition to other major projects throughout the country.