- Just a few days ago, six new wind turbines for Enel Green Power, Endesa's renewables subsidiary, arrived at the port on a ship from Portugal to breathe new life into the Arinaga wind farm.
- The project, jointly promoted by Endesa and Agüimes Town Council, will be fully operational in July of this year and consists of the replacement of six 660 kW wind turbines with 900 KW turbines that are technologically more advanced, more efficient and smaller in size.
- This involves an investment of €10 million and it will make the Arinaga wind farm the most modern in the Canary Islands. It is being used as a benchmark by Enel from Italy as it is one of the first of the company's wind farms to undergo complete repowering.
Work in Gran Canaria is in full swing and being undertaken by Endesa, employing the Engineering & Construction and Operation & Maintenance teams provided by its renewable energy subsidiary Enel Green Power España (EGPE), and Enercon, a company that supplies and installs wind turbines. Just a few days ago, the six new wind turbines arrived at the port of Arinaga. They will replace the previous ones at the Arinaga wind farm that have already been dismantled after more than twenty years in operation.
The new wind structures were transported by sea from Portugal and have already arrived at the wind farm. The area is now experiencing a coming and going of large cranes and their operators, anticipating that the first wind turbine with more advanced technology will have been installed in just seven days.
At this moment, the cranes belonging to the Carballo company have been installed in place and have the capacity to lift up to 300 tons. Full use is being made of them to lift the first shafts, two sections of 22 tons each and made of steel that need to be perfectly adjusted to each other and linked to the 160 pieces on the bolt cage (the foundation prepared on the ground) and to their respective screws. Next, it will be necessary to place the nacelles weighing 35 tons each and, finally, the bushings and resin blades weighing 15 tons. Each wind turbine will weigh more than 90 tons with a height of 67 metres.
José María Pérez, Enel's Head of Works at the Arinaga wind farm repowering project, explained that "at the moment work is progressing at a good pace, but the main drawback is the wind. If it blows too hard, we will be forced to stop hoisting and wait for conditions to improve."
It is expected that the installation of the new wind turbines will be completed by July this year and will transform the Carretera de Arinaga wind farm, located in Agüimes, into the most modern in the Canary Islands, making it a national benchmark because it involves comprehensive repowering that, according to José María Pérez, "is sometimes more complex than building a new wind farm from scratch".
The new wind turbines are more modern and will increase production capacity and extend the operation of the installation for at least two more decades.
The project consists of the replacement of six of the nine old wind turbines on the wind farm. They were MADE 660 kW AE46 technology turbines and will be replaced with ENERCON 900 kW E44 wind turbines which are much more modern and efficient and will require a total investment of €10 million. Already in 2012, Parque Eólica Carretera de Arinaga, a company consisting of Endesa, through Enel Green Power España, and the Agüimes Town Council, decided to undertake the first action to repower the wind farm This involved replacing wind turbines one, five and six with others of larger dimensions capable of increasing energy production.
The Arinaga wind farm occupies a total area of 40,000 square metres and its repowering will enable 5,400 KW of new installed power to be obtained.
The aim of the project is to improve the efficiency of an iconic wind farm located in the Arinaga Industrial Estate, where renewable energies and industry merge, and which was developed by Parque Eólica Carretera de Arinaga, a company in which the Town Council of Agüimes and Enel Green Power España participate. In this way, the objective of sharing the value created with local institutions is also achieved.
Replacing wind turbines with others using state-of-the-art technology not only increases the production of an important wind resource already existing in the area, but also improves the integration of the wind farm into the electricity grid, safety in operation, maintenance work and the environment.
Projects of these characteristics confirm Endesa's commitment, through Enel Green Power España, to renewable energies and the energy transition in the Canary Islands, developing new wind and photovoltaic generation projects, as well as renewing the existing fleet by repowering this and other wind farms.
Last year, Endesa's renewable division, Enel Green Power España, connected 626.65 MW of new renewable capacity to the electricity grid in Spain from 12 solar installations (499.5 MW), one wind (123.4 MW) and two hydroelectric (3.6 MW). Thanks to this new capacity, Endesa currently manages, through EGPE, more than 8,390 MW of renewable capacity installed in Spain, including: 4,746 MW in hydroelectric power plants; 2,546 MW in wind farms, and 1,098 MW in solar plants.
About Endesa
Endesa is the largest electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. The company is also the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. Endesa operates an end-to-end generation, distribution and marketing business. Through Endesa X it also offers value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy usage in homes, companies, industries and Public Administrations. It has also created a new line of business. Endesa X Way is fully dedicated to electric mobility. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and strongly supports the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of grids through e-distribution, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR-related matters. Our workforce numbers around 9,260 employees. Endesa is a division of Enel, the largest electricity group in Europe.