Venezuela Gets First 100-MW Wind Project

December 24, 2008 | 2 Comments

Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica has reached an agreement with Venezuelan energy group Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) for the supply of 76 AE61-1320 kilowatt wind turbine generators, amounting to a total power of 100 megawatts (MW).

Marking the company’s first step into the Latin American wind energy market, through its subsidiary MADE, the turbines are destined to what will become the first Venezuelan wind energy facility, located in the Paraguaná peninsula in the state of Falcón.

This agreement, amounting to almost €116 million [US $162.5 million], includes the supply and overseeing the installation and start-up of the turbines, along with two years of operation and maintenance. The wind energy facility’s assembly work will commence in the last quarter of 2009.

2 Comments

Jose Nieves
December 25, 2008

For every megawatt that comes out of windturbines, 500 homes can be powered with electricity. So 100MW should be able to energyze 50,000 homes. To provide enough energy to run 100 million US homes we will need to build enough wind turbines to provide 200,000 megawatts or 200 gigawatts. That is about 130,000 windtowers. If the cost of each turbine is $1 million , then we will need $130 billion which is less than one quarter of the money wasted with the Iraqui war so far

Sherry Jan
December 25, 2008

Very cool! America needs to get on with such. We seriously need to get on with becoming energy independent. Utilizing alternative energy sources would not only lessen our dependence on foreign oil it would create cheap, clean energy, as well as create millions of badly needed new green collar jobs. This past year the high cost of fuel seriously damaged our economy and society. It destroyed every imaginable budget from national to state to the local school. While some are foolish enough to be doing the happy dance around the lower prices at the pumps they are totally missing out on the news that OPEC is planning to cut production and raise the price per barrel back up to between 75-100 bucks again. I just read Jeff Wilson's new book The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now. you can see it @ www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com It would cost the equivalent of 60 cents per gallon to charge and drive an electric vehicle. The electricity to charge the vehicle could come partially or totally from electricity generated by wind or solar. One of the most fascinating facts in the book is that ...If all gasoline cars, trucks, and suv's instead had plug-in electric drive trains, the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota. Why don't we use some of the billions in bail out money to bail us out of our dependence on foreign oil? We must move forward as nation towards energy independence. Oil is finite, it will run out one day in the not too distant future.