STATE FIRM WINS CONTRACT FOR THREE NEW WIND FARMS

Tenerife, Tuesday January 19 2010

RENEWABLE energy company ITER will build three new wind farms on Tenerife, the island's government announced on Tuesday.

by JAMES TWEEDIE

The Technological Institute of Renewable Energies (ITER), which was founded and is 85 per cent owned by the Cabildo Insular de Tenerife, won the Cabildo's tender to build three wind farms to generate electricity for the island's power grid.

Some 129 projects competed for the tender, of which 11 were chosen including the three ITER wind farms.

The company now holds 97 per cent of the island's electricity generation contracts.

All three installations will be be located on the south coast, with the 18.4 Megawatt (MW) Parque Eólico del Complejo Medioambiental de Arico in Arico; and the 18.4 MW Parque Eólico de Areté, and the 16.8 MW Parque Eólico La Roca, both in Granadilla.

The company claimed that the combine 53.6 MW output would provide electricity for 7,660 households and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide – the main 'greenhouse gas' – by 11,000 tonnes.

ITER has one year to submit plans for the new sites and three years to begin construction.

ITER has built three wind farms on Tenerife since 1990: A nine-turbine 2.89 Megawatt experimental platform, and a 16-unit 4.8 MW and 11-windmill 5.5 MW operational facilities, all near its headquarters in Granadilla.

These existing farms together generate 36.764 megawatt-hours of electricity per year.

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