Iberdrola inaugurates Pier II wind farm in Mexico

The Mexican Secretary for Energy, Pedro Joaquín Coldwell, and the Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, have inaugurated the 66 MW Pier II wind farm. 

Iberdrola carried out the Pier II project along with a local partner, the Mabe Group. The wind farm is located in the municipality of Esperanza, in the state of Puebla in the south of the country, one of the regions in Mexico with the best wind resource.  The facility consists of 33 Gamesa G97 wind turbines, each with 2 MW unit capacity and 78 metres hub height.

The new infrastructure which required the investment of some US$130 million is already supplying renewable energy to 25,000 Mexican households and is responsible for a 55,000 t reduction in annual CO2 emissions.

The turbines are connected to a substation with a reactive capacity of 70 megavolt amps (MVA) built next to the site. The wind farm is connected to the national grid via a 115 kV power line measuring 3.6 km, which was also installed as part of the project.   The connection point between this renewable facility and the Mexican grid is the Esperanza substation (115 kV). 

Pier II is the first wind farm designed by Iberdrola using a supercomputing system which allows for wind turbines to be placed in the spots with the highest energy-producing potential. The company plans to roll out this system to future wind farm facilities on complex terrain.