In the Aldeavieja wind farm, located in the Avila municipalities of Santa María del Cubillo and Ojos Albos, Endesa, through its renewable energy subsidiary, Enel Green Power España, is carrying out the work to replace the 22 wind turbines of the plant for four of the latest generation. This is the largest repowering of a wind farm in Spain.
“Repowering a wind farm consists of replacing existing wind turbines with more advanced and efficient ones,” explains Miguel Ángel Juárez Fernández, construction manager at the Aldeavieja wind plant. Among its advantages are increased energy production, improved efficiency and reduced visual and environmental impact.
In Aldeavieja, annual production will double, going from 32.5 GWh to 64.1 GWh – equivalent to the consumption of 36,000 homes for one year. “In terms of power, the current park has 14.52 MW and will become 24 MW, which means that there will be an additional installed capacity in the network of 9.48 MW.”
A repowering is carried out when the infrastructures in use begin to reach the end of their useful life. This is the case of the Aldeavieja wind turbines, which have been in operation since 2000.
After disassembly, they will have a second life. “Some will be used as spare parts for existing parks and others will be sold to third parties. The parts that cannot be reused are recycled to avoid generating more environmental impact,” says Juárez.
In their place, four new V150 model wind turbines will arrive with a power of 6MW each, compared to the 660 KW of the previous ones. Measuring 119 meters high to the hub and with 73 meter long blades, they have been manufactured entirely in the European Union, maintaining employment within the Eurozone. The blades, specifically, come entirely from Daimiel (Ciudad Real).
In addition, local labor is also being used for the work being carried out in Aldeavieja. “In the phase in which the greatest number of activities will converge, a maximum volume of 80 workers is expected, of which it is estimated that 30% will be local hires,” says Juárez.
Subsequently, Endesa, together with the City Councils of Santa María del Cubillo and Ojos Albos, will provide training courses in the operation and maintenance of renewable parks. “The objective is to train local personnel in the operation of this type of facility, once the construction phase is completed.”
For this, we will have to wait another year. The Aldeavieja wind farm is scheduled to begin its testing phase in October 2025 and will be fully operational by the end of that month.
This project involves an investment of 34.1 million euros and has received aid of 6.51 million euros, granted by the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving under the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan financed by the European Union.
With this project, Endesa, through Enel Green Power Spain, continues with its repowering program that has set the goal of repowering five more wind farms with a total power of 80 MW and a horizon of 2026-2027, contributing to the energy transition and reducing the carbon footprint.
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