Two Portuguese windfarms commissioned

Terra Fria wind farm Portugal delivers 96 MW of renewable wind power and 250 GWh yearly, using 48 Enercon E82 turbines, cutting carbon emissions and oil dependence across the Iberian Peninsula with sustainable energy.

Portugal continued to strengthen its booming wind energy sector, with the commissioning of two onshore windfarms that have a combined generating capacity of 106 megawatts MW.

EDP Renováveis S.A. in Oviedo, Spain, the world's third-largest wind energy company, inaugurated its Terra Fria windfarm, which is just outside the city of Chaves, in Montalegre. With a capacity of 96 MW, the windfarm will have an estimated output of 250 gigawatt hours GWh per year, providing enough energy for approximately 140,000 people. It officially was opened by Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates and uses 48 Enercon E82 wind turbines. Construction on the facility began in April 2009, and Terra Fria is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 117.5 tonnes as part of a clean energy makeover for Portugal that supports lower import needs, and save $9.55 million in oil imports annually.

"Portugal is now one of the countries leading in terms of renewables in Europe," Sócrates said. "We are the fourth-largest producer of wind-related energy [in the world]. We are the second-biggest country in Europe in terms of electricity generation based on wind energy. We have one of the largest photovoltaic plants in the world, notably the largest-producing solar plant in southern Portugal demonstrating our progress. Portugal is now presented as an example of a country that has backed renewables as a strategy to solve its energy problem. It has reduced our dependence on oil."

Ana Maria Fernandes, the chief executive officer of EDP Renováveis, added: "The Terra Fria windfarm in Montalegre further strengthens our commitment to wind power in the Iberian peninsula, where a 90 MW Spanish wind build is also underway, and particularly in Northern Portugal. Through projects like this one, we are gradually helping to reduce dependency on imported energy."

As of September 2010, EDP Renováveis had a total of 135 windfarms across the Iberian Peninsula 39 in Portugal and 96 in Spain. The company has a combined installed capacity of 2,630 MW as European utilities increase renewable portfolios across the region.

Enel Green Power EGP, the renewable energy generation arm of Italian energy major Enel Spa, located in Rome, Italy, and building a wind farm in Italy alongside Iberian projects, commissioned a smaller Portuguese windfarm at Alvaiázere, which has a capacity of 10 MW, using five turbines rated at 2 MW each. The new windfarm will be capable of generating 29 million kilowatt-hours KWh of electricity, enough to power about 11,000 households. CO2 emissions will be reduced by approximately 21,500 tonnes per year.

Enel plans to add a further 8 MW to the project in the coming year, reflecting its added wind capacity in Sardinia as part of a broader expansion, bringing the company's total installed capacity in Portugal to more than 140 MW, of which 96 MW is wind-based.

IIR's Renewable Energy Database provides extensive coverage on the wind energy, geothermal, hydroelectric, landfill gas-to-energy and utility-scale solar power plants, including the world's largest wind site developments, throughout North America, and is now expanding coverage across the world.

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