IMPSA installs first turbine at Arauco wind park

LA PUERTA, ARGENTINA - IMPSA Wind, part of the major Argentine engineering and construction group Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona (IMPSA), recently installed the first 2.1-megawatt (MW) wind turbine at the Arauco Phase I Wind Park in the locality of La Puerta, in La Rioja province.

In October 2008, IMPSA began construction for the first phase, which consists of a 2.1-MW IMPSA Unipower IWP77 wind turbine generator. This unit is undergoing its test phase and should be operational at the beginning of February. At the same time, IMPSA is working on the foundations of the second phase of the Arauco Wind Park, consisting of 11 other Unipower IWP77 generators. These units are scheduled to be operational by July, amounting to 25 MW of environmentally friendly energy production.

The installed capacity is expected to be doubled in 2011, reaching 50 MW with 24 operational units.

The Arauco Wind Complex is being developed by the government of the Province of La Rioja, with the technical and economical assistance of Energía Argentina S.A., a state-owned oil and energy company that will provide 97.4 million Argentinean Pesos (US$25.67 million) of the total investment amount of 240 million Pesos (US$63.22 million).

With a power generation matrix depending heavily on fossil fuel-fired power plants and hydropower stations, the installed capacity from wind power generation amounts to only 27 MW in Argentina. The government is taking steps to develop renewable energies in the country. At the moment, Enarsa is holding a tender for the development of renewable energies, and the province of San Juan is developing a 1.2-MW Solar Power Plant in that province.

Related News

 PJM control room

After alert on Russian hacking, a renewed focus on protecting U.S. power grid

WASHINGTON - The joint alert from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security last month warning that Russia was hacking into critical U.S. energy infrastructure came as no surprise to the nation’s largest grid operator, PJM Interconnection.

“You will never stop people from trying to get into your systems. That isn’t even something we try to do.” said PJM Chief Information Officer, Tom O’Brien. “People will always try to get into your systems. The question is, what controls do you have to not allow them to penetrate? And how do you respond in the event they actually do get into your…

READ MORE
offshore wind turbine

Marine Renewables Canada shifts focus towards offshore wind

READ MORE

energy storage

Utilities see benefits in energy storage, even without mandates

READ MORE

wind power

UK must start construction of large-scale storage or fail to meet net zero targets.

READ MORE

russia china electricity trade

Russia to triple electricity supplies to China

READ MORE