Calderón inaugurates Iberdrola's 80MW Ventosa wind park

President Felipe Calderón inaugurated Spanish power group Iberdrola's 79.9MW La Ventosa wind farm in Mexico's Oaxaca state on Thursday (Jan 22), the company said in a statement. Parques Ecológicos de México, a fully owned Mexican subsidiary of Iberdrola, developed the project in Oaxaca's Juchitán de Zaragoza municipality in the Tehuantepec isthmus. La Ventosa is the first wind project in Mexico to be constructed, owned and operated by a private firm. "This park is a show of the trust the private sector has in the country and in Oaxaca. It is a demonstration of the most effective strategy to advance national progress and open doors to entrepreneurs without going against government investment initiatives in order to follow a path toward alternative clean energy," Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz said, according to a transcript of the event. Only 30MW of the total installed capacity are currently operational, while the remainder will come online gradually, an Iberdrola spokesperson told BNamericas. Iberdrola expects to the plant to be fully operational before the end of the first quarter, the spokesperson said. The 94 turbines were manufactured by Spain's Gamesa. Each has 0.85MW capacity. The plant has a capacity factor from 40-42% and will generate 290-295GWh annually, the spokesperson said. Expected output is equal to more than 13% of Oaxaca state's power demand, according to the presidential website. La Ventosa required investment of more than US$170mn, delegate advisor for Iberdrola Renovables Xabier Viteri said at the inauguration. La Ventosa has been registered with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a clean development mechanism and will generate 180,000t of carbon emission reduction credits (CERs) annually, Iberdola said in the statement. The company originally registered the project with 102MW capacity, in which case it would have generated 224,000t/y of CERs, though capacity was later scaled back. Parques Ecológicos de México is renting the land for the wind park from more than 150 families in Juchitán. The families have received a total 13mn pesos (US$922,376) to date. Once the plant begins full operations, they will receive 5mn pesos annually, Viteri said.