Iberdrola has begun construction work on a €52M extension project that will add 25MW to the San Pedro hydroelectric project on the river Sil in Nogueira de Ramuín (Ourense), Spain.
Iberdrola has begun construction work on a €52M extension project that will add 25MW to the San Pedro hydroelectric project on the river Sil in Nogueira de Ramuín (Ourense), Spain.
The new phase, San Pedro II, will add the additional capacity to the existing facility that currently has an installed capacity of 32MW. During the next three years of construction, Iberdrola expects to create up to 190 direct jobs.
Construction of San Pedro II comes a month after Iberdrola chairman, Ignacio Galán, and the President of Galicia’s Regional Government, Alberto Núñez Feijoo, inaugurated the Santo Estevo II power plant, in operation since February.
San Pedro hydroelectric plant acts as a reservoir for Santo Estevo, controlling the Sil river flow. Once extension of the latter was completed, it was necessary to also extend the former.
With 441MW installed capacity and a €127M overhaul, Santo Estevo has become the largest hydroelectric complex in Galicia, able to produce 1000GWh annually, enough clean power to meet average energy demand of approximately 285,000 homes.
Built completely underground, the extension of the original plant, now referred to as Santo Estevo II, is integrated into the surroundings: the Sil river canyon.
Once construction of San Pedro II is finished and with Santo Estevo II already commissioned, Iberdrola says it would have fulfilled the objectives these extension projects set to achieve: sluice control, balancing flows downstream and optimizing exploitation of an indigenous, renewable energy source.