Welcome to America, Acciona | Green Energy News

April 30, 2007 – Vol.12 No.6

WELCOME TO AMERICA, ACCIONA.

Acciona of Spain might be best described as a “Renaissance Company” of sustainable development: a knowledgeable specialist in building a greener world.

It describes itself as “a business group which is a pioneer in contributing to sustainable development worldwide through its main lines of business: development and management of infrastructure and real estate projects, provision of transport, urban and environmental services, and development and operation of renewable energies.”

That’s a mouthful but clearly defiines a busy company particularly in renewable energies. In its latest news Acciona has announced that it’s building a wind turbine manufacturing plant in the heart of America and in the center of the growing mid-American wind energy market: Iowa.

Before we get to the US wind turbine plant let’s take a look at Acciona’s other work in renewable energies.

Scattered throughout Spain the company owns and operates 19 mini-hydropower plants, and manages another six. Together the 19 plants generate almost 59 megawatts of renewable power.

The company owns 3 biomass-fueled powerplants for a total of 33 megawatts capacity. The largest plant, 25 megawatts, burns 160,000 tons per year of cereal straw, providing enough power around the clock for 50,000 homes.

In solar photovoltaics the company now has a total of nearly 29 megawatts of power. Starting later in 2007 the company will begin construction of a 42-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant - the largest in the world. And that’s only the first phase of the Moura project. The second will be 62 megawatts.

To supply the Moura project (and help keep costs down) the company is building its own solar module plant. It will be able to produce 24 megawatts of modules each year.

The company also claims that it pioneered the concept of solar gardens. That business model allows individuals the opportunity to invest directly in small solar photovoltaic installations that become their own property, but are located on a common site with other investors. Acciona says that it has attracted 2100 individual investors totaling an investment of EUR177 million ($ 236 million).

In solar thermal energy the company now has 23 megawatts in operation providing heat and hot water to buildings.

In solar thermal power generation it’s building the 64-megawatt Nevada Solar One plant. The company also built the 1-megawatt Saguaro solar thermal power plant for Arizona Public Service (APS).

Acciona even has interests in transportation fuels with both ethanol and biodiesel plants in Spain. The company is also involved in a project to use wind energy to generate renewable hydrogen.

Cogeneration, too, is in the company portfolio with more than 109 megawatts in ten plants in Spain.

But wind power is the company’s biggest renewable energy asset. World wide Acciona has built for itself and other companies 4,357 megawatts of capacity in 163 wind farms in 10 countries. That’s six percent of the world total. The company says it’s the world leader in the development and construction of wind farms.

The company also manufactures its own wind turbines - an in-house-developed 1.5 megawatt model. A 3.0 megawatt model is under development.

And that brings us back to Iowa.

The new $23 million plant in West Branch will be the company’s fourth in the world (two in Spain, one in China.) Initially it will be able to manufacture 250 turbines per year, bringing the company’s total global annual turbine output to 1,740 turbines for 2,610 MW per year. The US turbines, built with a workforce of 109, will be planted in planned and under development Acciona wind farms in North America.

Acciona will join Vestas, Gamesa, GE, Suzlon and Clipper Wind that are building, or planning to build, wind turbines and/or turbine components in the US.

The Acciona turbine plant will be open by the end of 2007. Visit Acciona at http://www.acciona-energia.es/