Wind energy is one of the most widely used worldwide. It is capable of generating a large amount of energy using the wind as its foundation. In Spain they are not taking advantage of all the renewable energy potential that it may have, especially with wind energy, but they are making good progress. In Zaragoza, there is the Iberdrola wind farm called La Plana III. This wind farm has been operating for more than 20 years and is the oldest in Spain.
In this article we explain everything about wind energy in Zaragoza.
Wind farm in La Muela
The wind farm has 21 megawatts of power and is located in the town of La Muela, in Zaragoza. These 21 megawatts of energy are supplied entirely through wind turbines. Such is the importance of this wind farm that La Muela is considered as the town that lives off the wind. It is not an exaggeration given that almost 98% of the energy resources used comes from the wind farm.
These 21 megawatts translate into a power of almost 950 GWh, which serves to supply a population of 726.000 inhabitants for a year. More or less this is the population that Zaragoza has, so it can be said that they live thanks to the wind.
Wind energy is developing by leaps and bounds thanks to improved technology and competitiveness in energy markets. These good wind energy production data in Zaragoza are the result of the application of various optimized programs that are responsible for improving energy efficiency in the use of electricity. It has been in operation for many years and each year it improves more. Iberdrola is in charge of updating the machinery and improving it to obtain better results.
Iberdrola has acted mainly in charge of optimizing the management of the service offered by the supplier companies. The maintenance of the activities of the wind farm has been improving thanks to the better operation of the personnel. All of this has led to an improvement in the efficiency of the wind farm and the availability of facilities for energy supply.
Zaragoza builds more wind farms
Given the success of the wind farms in Zaragoza, thanks to the geographical position and the wind regime it offers the weather in Zaragoza, all this must be promoted to improve energy production. In June 2018, the construction of another 9 wind farms that belong to the Goya project began. Among the 9 wind farms there are 300 megavaries, which makes it an excellent capacity for supplying electricity.
The locations where these wind farms will be built are Campo de Belchite, Campo de Daroca and Campo de Cariñena. Works are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Not only should we look positively at the creation of these wind farms as a good source of renewable energy, but also because of the positive repercussions it will have on the environment. Thanks to the construction of all these wind farms, it will be possible to reduce CO2 emissions per year by 314.000 tons. This has numerous benefits in terms of the concentration of greenhouse gases and heat in the atmosphere. The less CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere, the more efficiently we will be fighting global warming and the effects of climate change.
In addition, it also has social benefits, since will generate more than 1.000 jobs during the construction phase of the park and about 50 permanent jobs for when the park is up and running. These people will be in charge of maintenance and making sure that the wind farm is fulfilling its promise: the generation of 300 megawatts.
Aragon, the third Spanish energy autonomy
And it is that renewable energy makes it possible to have a consumption energy without depending on the Spanish electricity grid that uses Fossil fuels for it. The wind energy from all these new wind farms and the one already known in La Muela, will put Aragon in third place in energy autonomy, only surpassed by Castilla y León and Galicia.
The investment for the construction of these wind farms is multimillion dollar and there are many companies in the sector that are committed to it. Among which Forestalia and Grupo Jorge stand out. With these wind farms the amount of energy that will be generated can be tripled.
In previous state energy auctions, Zaragoza has been at the top in terms of the availability of the free resource, wind. The data collected on January 31 of last year said that Aragon was the fifth autonomy of wind generation in all of Spain. At that time it had 1.829 megawatts without the development of the new parks. When the new wind farms are completed and put into operation it will have a power of 5.917 megawatts, which will make it rise in its capacity for energy autonomy.
However, not even with the construction of these new wind farms it will be able to surpass the leader in this renewable energy in Spain, Castilla y León. This autonomous community has 8.027 MW of power, much more than what Aragon aspires. In second place we have Galicia, which will not be second place for long, given that it has a capacity of 6.039 MW. This is just a little more than the amount that Aragon will get and we do not know if it will subsequently improve availability and technological capacity to generate even more energy.
Improvement of renewables
If all the wind turbines that are expected to be built are successful and the existing photovoltaic panels and those waiting to be built finally work, Aragon will be able to grow up to 58% in renewable energy. It is a historical production that can improve the energy status of its towns, in addition to caring for the environment. The investment of all these renewable energy sectors exceeds 7.000 million euros.
As you can see, renewable energy is gradually making its way into the Spanish energy sector and Zaragoza continues to climb. I hope that the other towns will follow the example and develop more in this sector.