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Iberdrola has started installing Spain’s largest and most powerful wind turbines on the Herrera wind farm, with 63 MW capacity, in Castilla y León. The turbines have a unit power of 4.5 MW, which is seven times more than the first wind turbines installed in our country more than two decades ago.

The Hererra complex, with 63 MW of installed capacity, is made up of three wind farms - La Huesa, Valdesantos and Orbaneja— and a total of fourteen SG 4.5-145 wind turbines with 70-metre blades offering a diameter of 145 metres. They are three times the size of the original wind turbines and are twice as tall as Burgos Cathedral.

Iberdrola is investing €70 million in the development of this wind complex, which is helping to stimulate the region’s industrial sector. The development will create jobs for almost 800 people and the field work and civil engineering works have been entrusted to local companies, such as the Burgos-based Copsa building company. In addition, most of the components of these wind turbines are made in Spain, including the multipliers, in Burgos; the gondolas, in Soria and the generators, in Cantabria.

The size of these components means that building them is a complex process, with up to 100 daily deliveries of up to 76 metres in length with different materials and 180-metre high cranes to lift components, some of which weigh more than 155 tonnes.

The Orbaneja and La Huesa wind farms will be in the municipal areas of Isar, Las Quintanillas, Rabé de las Calzadas and Estepar. The former will consist of seven wind turbines, with a total of 31.5 MW of installed power, while the latter will have four turbines that will add a further 18 MW. Valdesantos will be built in Estepar and will have three wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 13.5 MW.

The Herrera Complex will be operational by 2021 and will generate enough power to supply a population equivalent to 60,000 homes per year, while avoiding 50,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year.

Committed to Castilla y León

The company is advancing in its commitment to clean energy in Spain, incorporating cutting-edge technologies to provide more competitiveness and sustainability to its renewables projects.

With this project, it is ratifying its commitment to Castilla y León and its leadership in renewable energies in the region, where it already operates 5,100 MW. Of this, 1,500 MW are from wind, making this the autonomous community where the most ‘green’ megawatts have been installed by the company.

Along with the Herrera Complex, Iberdrola is building the Buniel wind farm complex in Burgos, in collaboration with Caja Rural de Soria, and the Valdemoro Park, with a total of 164 MW, which makes it one of the largest in Castilla y León. Last year, it commissioned the BaCa (Ballestas and Casetona) wind farm complex, with 69.3 MW and it is making strides with the first photovoltaic projects in the region, with a total of more than 400 MW.

Iberdrola announced some months ago that it will develop more than 1,800 MW in the community over the coming years in renewable projects - wind and photovoltaic - for which it will allocate investments in excess of €1.3 billion. These resources will galvanise the industrial sector and create 18,000 jobs, according to estimates by the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC)*.