Gamesa, Iberdrola To Build Honduras Wind Farm

A consortium made up of Gamesa (GAM.MC) and Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción has received a contract to build a Honduran wind farm, known as Cerro de Hula, a project which will have 102 megawatss (MW) of installed capacity.

Gamesa controls 76% of the venture, while Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción controls the remaining 24%. The wind farm’s customer is Mesoamérica Energy, a company that develops renewable energy projects in Central America and neighbouring countries via its local subsidiary, Energía Eólica de Honduras.  

The wind farm project has a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) contract with Honduras’ Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica, and will be financed with funds from the US Export-Import Bank and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.  

The contract to build the Cerro de Hula wind farm calls for a “turnkey” project with scheduled completion in 18 months. The new wind farm will consist of 51 Gamesa G87-2 MW wind turbines. The contract includes electricity grid interconnection, land accesses to the site, civil works, transport and electromechanical erection of the wind turbines. In addition, it includes maintenance services for a period of two years from the date the wind farm begins operating.

For Gamesa, the scope of the contract encompasses the manufacture, supply, transport and erection of the wind turbines, including supervision and start-up of the turbines. Meanwhile, Iberdrola Ingeniería will design and build the wind turbine foundations, access roads and erection platforms. It will also be responsible for construction of the site’s Operation and Maintenance building and the design and execution of a system for exporting the wind farm’s energy to the grid.

By winning this bid, both companies bolster their strategic position in Latin America, where Gamesa has installed more than 200 MW of wind energy in five countries, primarily Mexico. In Mexico, the company recently signed a long-term agreement (10 years) to supply 100% of the turbines for the wind farms Cannon Power Group will develop in Baja California.

Meanwhile, Iberdrola Ingeniería has a significant presence in Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil. The company is the No. 1 builder of wind farms in Mexico.

Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción is a subsidiary of Iberdrola (IBE1.DE) and is headquartered in Erandio, Spain.