Iberdrola To Build Two Canary Island Wind Farms

Spanish electric utility Iberdrola has announced that it has received official permission to proceed with the development of two small wind farms in the Canary Islands.

Iberdrola announced the news on Tuesday, revealing that it would proceed with the development of two wind farms in Tenerife — Las Aulagas (13.8 MW) and Chimiche II (18.4 MW). Both wind farms have been authorized for registration with the pre-allocation status as part of the Specific Canary Islands Wind Power Quota Tax Schemes, which itself accounts for 450 MW.

Both wind projects will be shared with an as-yet unnamed local partner, and will itself be investing €40 million, with the intent to commission the projects within the next 21 months.

Even though Iberdrola is a relatively well-known Spanish wind brand, this will be the company’s first wind farm in construction since it completed the 36 MW El Segredal project in Asturias.

This latest announcement will only seal Iberdrola’s place in the Spanish wind industry, in which it already has 5,500 MW, spread out over Spain and its autonomous regions thus: Castile-La Mancha (1,804 MW), Castile and León (1,453 MW), Andalusia (857 MW), Galicia (627 MW), Aragon (305 MW), Murcia Region (161 MW), Basque Country (143 MW), Asturias (74 MW), Catalonia (50 MW), and Cantabria (32 MW).

Earlier this month, Iberdrola revealed that it had signed a €200 million loan with the European Investment Bank with the intention of financing research, development, and innovation projects in two of its strategic business areas — Networks and Renewables. Iberdrola also this month celebrated the completion and launch of the massive Andalucia substation which set sail from Cadiz, bound for the German zone of the Baltic Sea, where the 350 MW Wikinger offshore wind farm will be developed.