Enel Green Power Mexico has started construction of the 244MW Dolores wind farm in the municipality of China, in the state of Nuevo León.
The project, scheduled to start operation in the first half of 2020, will cost $280m to build.
Once fully operational, the wind farm will be able to generate approximately 850 gigawatt hours a year.
The project is supported by a contract providing for the sale to the Mexican Centre for Energy Control’s Cámara de Compensación of specified volumes of energy over a 15-year period plus related clean certificates over a 20-year period.
Enel Green Power global renewable energy business head Antonio Cammisecra said: “With the start of construction of the Dolores wind farm, we are continuing to expand our presence in the country, entering for the very first time into the state of Nuevo León.
“Dolores further strengthens our strategy in the country to address growing electricity demand and sustainable development in an impactful way by developing clean technologies in a key state which boasts outstanding wind resources.”
The Dolores project is one of the four wind plants awarded to the Enel Group for a total capacity of 593MW in the third long-term auction following Mexico’s Energy Reform.
In addition to the plant in Nuevo León, Enel has been awarded the Amistad II and Amistad III projects, with an installed capacity of 100MW each, and Amistad IV, with an installed capacity of 149MW, all located in Acuña, Coahuila. The company has started building Armistad II.
Dolores will be built using Enel’s sustainable construction standards, which entail measuring the project’s socio-environmental impact and taking steps to incorporate the rational use of resources.
These include careful water management, and waste recycling that will repurpose the site’s wooden pallets to produce eco-friendly furniture. Shipping containers will be used by the local community.
Enel Green Power Mexico is one of the largest renewable energy players in the country in terms of managed capacity. In Mexico, the subsidiary manages 2GW, of which 873MW is from wind, around 1089MW is from solar and 53MW is from hydro.
In the state of Tamaulipas Enel has also started building the 103MW Salitrillos wind project and in the state of Tlaxcala it has begun building the 220MW Magdalena solar plant.