Gas Natural Fenosa begins construction on Gran Canaria of its first five wind farms in the Canary Islands

Gas Natural Fenosa Renovables plans to begin construction in the next few days of five wind farms on Gran Canaria, the first for the company in the Canary Islands. The wind farms, which will be located in the municipality of Agüimes, will create about 175 direct jobs during the construction stage. The wind farms are: La Vaquería, Montaña Perros, Triquivijate, Doramas and Haría.

These projects, which comprise 14 megawatts (MW) of power in total, form part of the 13 wind farms that Gas Natural Fenosa Renovables registered under the quota opened by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism in 2015 for developing wind power in the Canary Islands. The facilities will be subject to a special tax regime and must be operational before 31 December 2018.

Gas Natural Fenosa Renovables continues to work on the administrative procedure for the eight remaining projects in order for their construction to begin soon. Furthermore, the power company is finalising the technical contracts with the electricity distributor for access to the grid and construction of the necessary infrastructure.

Greater participation in the quota

Gas Natural Fenosa Renovables was the company awarded the largest stake in the quota from the Ministry of Industry, with a total of 13 facilities in Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, totalling 65 MW.

In Gran Canaria, the company registered a total power of 45 MW, which corresponds to 10 facilities. In Fuerteventura, the company will build three wind farms totalling 20 MW. These projects will create direct employment for close on 500 people during the construction stage.

The projects registered by Gas Natural Fenosa Renovables reflect an associated investment of close on 100 million euros. These infrastructure projects will help reduce the emission of gaseous pollutants in the Canary Islands by three million tonnes and will allow a saving of 345 million euros in the cost of electricity production over the 20-year average lifespan for this type of facility.

By developing these projects, the construction of which is included in the 2018 targets of its Strategic Plan, GAS NATURAL FENOSA reaffirms its commitment to the Canary Islands and the wind power industry in one of the autonomous regions of Spain with the largest wind power resources.

Gas Natural Fenosa Renovables

Gas Natural Fenosa Renovables currently has an operational installed capacity of 1,147 MW in Spain, of which 979 MW are accounted for by wind farms; 110 MW by mini-hydropower plants; 57 MW by co-generation power plants; and 1 MW by photovoltaic power plants.