Mexico installs an ACCIONA wind turbine for the World Climate Summit in Cancun

Mexican President Felipe Calderón inaugurated the turbine yesterday. The 1.5 MW machine incorporates ACCIONA Windpower technology.

The wind turbine, owned by Mexican state-owned company CFE, will supply electricity to the city of Cancun.

A wind turbine with ACCIONA technology has been installed on the initiative of the Mexican Government in Cancun, the city that is hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP16) organized by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The initiative is a symbol of how clean energies can contribute to reducing emissions and to the stabilization of the climate on our planet.

Yesterday afternoon Mexican President Felipe Calderón inaugurated the wind turbine during an institutional ceremony attended by Mexican authorities and ACCIONA managers.

The installation of the turbine was carried out by ACCIONA Energy for the Mexican Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), a public body responsible for the generation, distribution and marketing of electric power in Mexico. ACCIONA will undertake the maintenance of the wind turbine during its working life.

The 1.5 MW AW-70/1500 turbine, which is manufactured using ACCIONA Windpower in-house technology, is located south of Cancun very close to the venues of COP16, the world conference on climate change. It has an 80-meter-high steel tower with 34-meter-long blades and a rotor diameter of 70 meters. On a site with a good wind resource providing 3,000 equivalent hours of production at full capacity this model of wind turbine is capable of generating clean electricity to supply 2,300 homes in Mexico.

ACCIONA Energy already has a strong presence in Mexico, materialized in the 250.5 MW Eurus wind farm, the biggest in Latin America and the largest built by ACCIONA to date. Located at Juchitán de Zaragoza (Oaxaca state), it represented an investment of 550 million dollars and consists of 167 1.5 MW wind turbines with ACCIONA Windpower technology, similar to the model now installed in Cancun.

The production from Eurus is sent to CEMEX plants in Mexico and is equivalent to the consumption of a city of 500,000 people, thus avoiding the emission of 600,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere per year.

ACCIONA Energy is currently constructing three more wind farms in the state of Oaxaca with total capacity of 306 MW. The investment of over 600 million dollars will mean the installation of 204 AW-1500 wind turbines of ACCIONA Windpower technology.

Through these wind farms ACCIONA reaffirms its commitment to sustainable development and the fight against climate change in Mexico, where it is the leader in wind power implementation with a planned level of 556 MW in operation by the end of 2011.

AW wind turbines in twelve countries

ACCIONA Windpower is an ACCIONA subsidiary that designs and manufactures wind turbines. To June this year it has supplied 2,139 turbines (total capacity 3,211.5 MW) of the same capacity as the one installed in Cancun for wind farms in twelve countries on four continents. 

The AW-1500 turbine is robust, reliable and provides maximum profitability and electricity production throughout its working life. It is available in three models (rotor diameter of 70, 77 and 82 meters) and can be adapted to a wide range of sites and weather conditions.

ACCIONA Windpower exports its wind turbines all over the world and supplies both the ACCIONA group and other major players in the world wind power sector.