Enel building wind farm in Italy

SARDINIA, ITALY - Italy's biggest renewable energy company, Enel Green Power EGP, said it had received authorization to build a 90-megawatt wind farm on the island of Sardinia.

EGP plans to build the farm, which will consist of 39 Siemens wind turbines each with 2.3 MW capacity, this year, the company controlled by Italy's biggest utility Enel said in a statement.

The plant, expected to become EGP's largest wind farm in Italy, will generate 185 million kW/h of power a year, enough to meet the demand of 70,000 households, and will help avoid emission of more than 130,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide CO2.

The new wind farm will raise EGP's total installed wind capacity to more than 250 MW in Sardinia, where it currently operates three wind farms with an annual production of more than 240 million kW/h and a total installed capacity of 161 MW.

Capacity growth was a key driver of a 5.6 percent rise in EGP's core earnings in the first nine months of 2010, but the stock, listed in Milan and Madrid on November 4, has been hit by dwindling interest from professional investors for green energy.

At the end of 2010, EGP had a total installed capacity of about 5,900 MW around the world. Italy accounted for more than 2,600 MW, including more than 450 MW of wind power.

EGP shares have mostly traded below the price of 1.6 euros per share set in what was Europe's biggest initial public offering since 2008 and were down 0.19 percent at 1.596 euros in Milan by 1115 GMT.