Acciona Energía along with partners has commissioned the 138MW Gouda wind farm in the municipality of Drakenstein around 100km north-west of Cape Town, South Africa.
The company-led consortium comprising South African infrastructure firm Aveng, Soul City Broad-Based Empowerment Company (SCBBEC) and a community development entity Local Community Trust owns the wind farm.
Gouda is Acciona’s first wind farm in the country, features 46 units of 3MW wind turbines of Acciona Windpower technology.
The wind farm will generate around 423GWh of clean electricity annually that will be enough to power close to 200,000 South African households, by eliminating 406 million tons of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.
Acciona Energía CEO Rafael Mateo said: "The start-up of the Gouda wind farm visualizes our commitment to the development of renewable energies in South Africa, to which we wish to contribute through latest-generation wind and photovoltaic plants and efficient, competitive wind turbines of our 3 MW platform."
Besides Gouda wind farm, the company also operates 94.3MWp Sishen photovoltaic plant in the country since 2014.
The projects for both Gouda and Sishen were approved by the Department of Energy in the second round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP), which is aimed at increasing the use of renewable energies in the national energy mix.
The company plans to bid in the next rounds of the REIPPPP to strengthen its activity and implement other renewable projects in South Africa.
Acciona Energía currently owns and operates plants with a total installed capacity of around 8,600MW in 15 countries.
The company’s subsidiary Acciona Windpower won a wind turbine supply contract for a wind farm in Mexico in April this year.
The contract will require the company to provide 43 units of 3MW AW125/3000 turbines, which are designed to optimize the capture of energy on sites with medium-speed winds.
Image: Gouda, the company’s first wind farm in the country, employs 46 units of 3MW wind turbines of Acciona Windpower technology. Photo: courtesy of Acciona.