ACCIONA strengthens its presence in India with the construction of a third wind park

Tuppadahalli (capacity 56 MW) represents an investment of 58 million euros and will enter service in 2011.

ACCIONA Energy is the Spanish company with the strongest wind power presence in India.

ACCIONA Energy has started construction work on its third wind park in India, the 56 MW Tuppadahalli facility, which will come on stream in 2011. Representing an investment of 58 million euros, the wind park will strengthen the company's presence in India and increase its wind power capacity in the country to 85.8 MW.

Tuppadahalli joins the wind parks at Arasinagundi (13.2 MW), installed in 2007, and Anabaru (16.5 MW), built in 2008. All three are 100% owned by ACCIONA. Also located in the state of Karnataka, the new park will contain thirty-four 1,650 kW wind turbines and its renewable energy production will avoid the emission of 167,000 metric tons of CO2 a year from conventional power stations in the state.

ACCIONA Energy is the first Spanish wind power developer in terms of owned wind parks in  India. Its subsidiary has its offices in Bangalore.

The company plans a major presence in India, the fifth world maket in terms of wind power implementation. India ended 2009 with 10,827 wind power megawatts installed, after the United States (35,159 MW), China (25,853 MW), Germany (25,813 MW) and Spain (18,784 MW).

Clean Development Mechanism

As in the two other wind parks already installed in India, ACCIONA plans to incorporate Tuppadahalli into the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) system envisaged in the Kyoto Protocol.

The CDM is one of the flexibility mechanisms contained in the Protocol in order to reduce emission levels. The aim is that public or private entities carry out projects in developing countries that contribute to their sustainable development and an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Developers (private companies or other entities) thereby obtain certified emission reductions (CERs) that can then be used in industrialized countries to comply witih the commitments undertaken in terms of emission reductions.

The trading of CERs on the emission rights market guarantees the guarantees the economic viability of the projects, thus favouring sustainable development initiatives in countries receiving the investments.