The Basque Government and Iberdrola will invest €59m in the Basque Country’s first wind farm in 20 years.
The 40MW Labraza wind farm will become the first to be commissioned in the Basque Country since 2006.
Located in the municipality of Oion in Alava, the wind farm will have eight Siemens Gamesa SG 5.0-145 (2.0) 5MW wind turbines, belonging to the 4X platform.
Aixeindar, a company owned by Iberdrola and the Basque Government’s Ente Vasco de la Energía (EVE), is behind the Labraza scheme and has already applied for the building permit to start the execution of the project.
Once all the administrative procedures have been completed, the works are expected to start in the last quarter of this year, and the wind farm is expected to come into operation one year later.
The installation of the Labraza project will increase the current installed wind power capacity in the Basque Country by 26%, from 153MW to 193MW.
Once in operation, it will produce 99,679MWh per year, which will supply 30,000 homes with renewable energy and prevent the emission of 16,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide. In addition, the project will incorporate proposals to benefit local communities.
The wind farm does not require the construction of new electrical infrastructures for its connection to the grid, since it has an evacuation line through the substation of the existing wind farms in Aguilar de Codés (Navarra).
The Minister of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability Mikel Jauregi said: “For the first time in 20 years, the Basque Country will have a new wind farm that will generate green energy for our homes and industries. And we will do it from the public-private initiative, counting on the value chain of our wind industry, a sector in which we are a benchmark in Europe.
“We also want a social model that directly benefits, first and foremost, the residents of the towns in which the renewable projects are developed, the local councils and administrations, and the companies in the surrounding area.
“In this way, we contribute to environmental care, decarbonisation, the development of our industry, and the improvement of society, towns and local businesses.”
Kerman Gabiola, managing director of Siemens Energy and Siemens Gamesa in Spain, said the Labraza wind farm was a “very important project” for the Basque Country.
“We are proud to be able to carry it out together with our partner Iberdrola, and with the Ente Vasco de la Energía and the Basque Government. The local added value is very high. This is the first wind farm to be built in the Basque Country in the last two decades, which is an important step forward in the reactivation of wind energy in the region,” Gabiola added.
The Labraza wind farm foresees the creation of up to 90 jobs, mainly local, during the construction phase.