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Renewables may be one of the key levers in reviving economic activity and employment in times marked by the coronavirus and building a new model around ‘green’ principles. This morning, after travelling 20,000 km and passing all the sanitary controls, the 42 wind turbine blades that will form part of Iberdrola’s new project in Spain, the Puylobo Wind Farm, which is being built in Aragon, have been unloaded at the Port of Bilbao.
The company received this component, manufactured by Siemens Gamesa in China for planning reasons, while completing the civil work on the wind farm, supported by local suppliers, and the rest of the wind turbine elements: towers, nacelles/hubs, generators, multiplier and transformers are manufactured in facilities in Asturias, Cantabria, Soria and Burgos.
Located in the municipalities of Borja and Mallén, in Zaragoza, Puylobo will have fourteen SG 3.4-132 wind turbines; a model with a 64.5 m long blade, optimal for medium and high wind locations. With an investment of 50 million euros, more than 120 professionals will be involved in its construction. The farm’s production, once it enters into operation this year, will supply clean energy to a population equivalent to 20,000 homes per year and will prevent 32,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year.
STAR-GUIDED VOYAGE
The heavy transport ship ZHI XIAN ZHI XING set sail from the port of Qinhuangdao, in China, on 7 March, and on its journey to Spain passed along the coast of Vietnam, crossed the straits from Singapore and Malacca, crossed the Gulf of Bengal towards Sri Lanka and the Laccadive Sea, going up the west coast of India to cross the Arabian Sea to enter the Gulf of Aden and then the Red Sea.
After crossing the Suez Canal, it entered the Mediterranean Sea. It then crossed Gibraltar Strait, travelling along the coast of Portugal and then the coast of Cantabria, to the Port of Bilbao.
The Puylobo Wind Farm adds to twelve other renewable projects that Iberdrola is currently building in Spain -including a photovoltaic plant in Teruel, Aragon- and is part of the investment plan initiated by the company that provides for the installation of 3,000 MW of wind and photovoltaic by 2022. By 2030, forecasts suggest the installation of 10,000 MW. These actions will enable jobs to be created for 20,000 people in Spain.
ECONOMIC REVIVAL, INDUSTRIAL FABRIC AND EMPLOYMENT BASED ON RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGIES
Convinced that electrification will act as a lever for change in the post-coronavirus world, the company is preparing to accelerate its investments and thus contribute to reviving economic activity and employment.
Iberdrola plans to make investments worth 10 billion euros worldwide this year. This volume of resources -double that of the previous year- will mobilise projects, the industrial activity of the value chain and innovation in areas such as renewable energy, smart grids and large-scale storage systems.
Coinciding with the emergence of the coronavirus during the first quarter, Iberdrola advanced orders to suppliers worth almost 4 billion euros; 75% of them during March. Of the orders placed in the first three months of the year, 24% were made to companies within Spain, i.e. more than 940 million euros.
In Spain, Iberdrola is the leader in renewable energies, with installed wind capacity of more than 6,000 MW and over 16,500 MW in renewables out of a total of 32,350 MW worldwide, which makes its generation facilities among the cleanest in the energy sector.
