Iberdrola To Build 228MW Mexico Wind Farm

Iberdrola (IBR.MC) subsidiary Iberdrola Ingenieria has been awarded a $99 million contract to construct a wind farm at Piedra Larga in Oaxaca state, Mexico. The facility will be one of the country’s largest, with an installed capacity of 228 megawatts (MW).

Iberdrola Ingenieria is the majority shareholder in the consortium which is to undertake the work, with Global Energy Services Mexico (GES) holding the remaining 49.7%.

The two companies have been commissioned to carry out the turnkey project by Gesa Eólica México. The consortium will also be responsible for operating and maintaining the wind farm during the guarantee period.

The Piedra Larga facility, in the municipality of Unión Hidalgo, will be developed in two stages. The first, which amounts to 90 MW of installed capacity, is expected to be completed by mid-March 2011. The second, in which the remaining 138 MW will be brought online, is to be completed one year later, in March 2012.

Iberdrola Ingenieria has already built two wind farms in Mexico (La Venta II with 83.3 MW of installed capacity and La Ventosa with 80 MW) and is developing a third, La Venta III, which will have an installed capacity of 102.85 MW.

The company has also undertaken major distribution grid projects in Mexico in recent years. In mid-2009 it was awarded its largest contract in Mexico, amounting to $160 million, to expand and modernise the electricity infrastructures of the states of Veracruz and Chiapas.

The company also is developing energy engineering projects in Brazil and Venezuela valued at approximately EUR 680 million.

At the close of 2009, Iberdrola Ingenieria had a project portfolio worth over EUR 2,500 million, up 10% on 2008. 87% of the portfolio was for projects abroad, compared to 81% in 2008. Third-party contracts rose by 33% last year, to nearly EUR 1,425 million.

The Iberdrola subsidiary is currently Spain’s leading engineering company in the electricity sector and the third largest worldwide in terms of turnover from foreign business, with operations in over 30 countries in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.