Iberdrola Opens 404-MW Penascal Wind Farm

The Penascal complex is located in Kenedy County, Texas and comprises two wind farms, Penascal I and Penascal II. The facility has 168 Mitsubishi MHI 92 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2.4 MW. The facility created some 20 direct jobs in maintenance and operation of the wind farms. Around 200 people were involved in its construction and the project was built by Mortenson Construction.

The full project became operational in April 2010 and power from this project is delivered to customers of CPS Energy of San Antonio and the South Texas Energy Cooperative (STEC). Iberdrola recieved a $114 million treasury grant for the project as part of the stimulus funds that were released in September 2009.

The complex’s innovative features include a radar system that detects the arrival of large flocks of migratory birds and shuts down the turbines if visibility conditions present a danger.