Forestalia has signed an agreement with Mirova, GE and Engie to build the first wind farm of 300MW in Spain, which is free of premiums and public subsidies.

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Image: The 300MW wind farm is part of 1.5GW set of 9 wind farms in Spain. Photo: Courtesy of Martin Boose/FreeImages.com.

To be built in the province of Zaragoza, the project will include nine wind farms, which make up the Goya project.

The 300MW wind project was the result of the first renewable energy auction in the country held in January 2016, where Forestalia claims to have been the largest contractor.

Claimed to be one of the largest investments in renewable energy in Spain in recent years, it represents a key stage for the construction of the 1.5GW capacity in Aragon.

The wind project will generate enough electricity to be supplied to an equivalent population of Zaragoza, while avoiding 314,000 tons of CO2 emissions every year.

For this project, GE will supply its 3.4-130 and 3.8-130 model turbines. These turbines will be manufactured by GE Renewable Energy centers in Europe, including its Engineering Center of Excellence in Barcelona and its manufacturing plant in Salzbergen, Germany. Blades for the turbines will be produced by LM Wind Power’s production plants.

Engie, as a member of a joint venture with Acciona and Copsa, has been handed over with the responsibility of carrying out the construction of the 9 wind farms.

The wind farms are expected to enter into operation before March 2020, which is the deadline set by the auction.

Under a 12 year power purchase agreement (PPA), Engie has guaranteed to purchase a large chunk of the electricity generated from the Goya project.

With the support of the Investment Plan for Europe, the European Investment Bank has offered a €50m loan to finance the wind power project. A syndicate of commercial banks is providing €120m to finance the construction and operation of nine wind plants.