Acciona completes 306MW Mexican wind farm cluster

MEXICO: Three new Mexican wind farms owned by Acciona with a capacity of 306MW have been inaugurated by the country's president Felipe Calderon.

by Steven Mather 8 March 2012

The Acciona Isthmus of Tehuantepec projects use AW1500 turbines

The projects — Oaxaca II, III and IV — are located in the Isthmus de Tehuantepec region of the state of Oaxaca. It uses 204 Acciona AW1500 1.5MW wind turbines.

The isthmus represents the narrowest piece of land separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean.

The company said it expects the projects to produce an average annual production of 1.1 million megawatt hours of electricity.

Acciona already operates the 250.5MW Eurus wind farm in Mexico, also in Oaxaca. The company now has a total of 556.5MW installed in the country.

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is also the location of one of Latin America's biggest pipeline projects, the 396MW Mareña wind farm. The project is being developed by Mareña Renovables Capital and has a PPA with the manufacturers of Heineken and Coca-Cola.

2012 is expected to be a big year for wind in Mexico, with the Mexican Wind Energy Association (AMDEE) predicting 1GW to be installed in the first few months alone.