Enel adds over 144GWh in annual renewables capacity to Spain’s grid

Enel Green Power Spain has connected its 51MW wind farm in the town of Motilla del Palancar, in the Cuenca province, with the country’s main grid network.

The €57 million ($68 million) wind farm will generate more than 144GWh per year, enough to offset 95,000 tons of carbon emissions made annually.

The wind farm is part of Enel Green Power’s strategy to fully decarbonize its generation mix by 2050.

Enel plans to achieve 10.2GW of renewable energy installed capacity by 2022, up from the 7.4GW at the end of 2019, with a total investment of €3.8 billion ($4.5 billion).

Enel leveraged its “Sustainable Construction Site” model to install the 17 wind turbines with a unit power of 3MW.

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The model comprises the installation of photovoltaic solar panels on each site to cover part of waste separation energy needs and the use of water storage tanks.

Once the construction works are completed, both the photovoltaic panels and the water-saving equipment will be donated to the municipalities where the projects are located for public use.

Other innovative and sustainable tools include the use of drones for topographic surveying, smart tracking of turbine components, as well as advanced digital platforms and software solutions for monitoring and remote support of various activities, as well as the commissioning of the facility. 

Enel also adopted its Creating Shared Value (CSV) plan with the municipality of Motilla del Palancar for the construction of the wind farm.

The CSV plan sees Enel:

• Donating 3.2kW photovoltaic systems (solar panels, inverter, batteries, protections and auxiliary components).
• Replacing 100 light points from public lighting to LED in some of the town’s streets.
• Ensuring efficient lighting of the football field, through installing LED projectors, in the field’s four lighting columns.
• Improving the employability of the inhabitants of the area. A 90-hour course on maintenance and operation of renewable energy plants has been taught, in which 17 people have participated.

This article was originally posted on Power Engineering International and was republished with permission.