THE XUNTA AND NORVENTO LAUNCH THE FIRST EXPERIMENTAL WIND FARM IN SPAIN FOR INDUSTRIAL SELF-CONSUMPTION 

• This farm will be sited in the municipality of A Pastoriza, Lugo, and will have a total installed capacity of 2 MW, with five nED wind turbines, developed by Norvento, as well as up to three weather towers.

• With a budget of over €2.5M, and with a completion period of 2 years from the start of construction, this test centre will be dedicated to the testing and demonstration of medium-power wind power technology (100 kW — 700 kW).

• The agreement was signed this morning between the Regional Minister of Economy, Employment and Industry, Francisco Conde and the President and CEO of Norvento, Pablo Fernández.

The Regional Department of Economy, Employment, and Industry and Norvento, a Spanish renewable technologies company, have announced this morning an agreement to develop the experimental nED wind farm. It will be the first centre in Spain to test specific medium-power wind turbines for industrial self-consumption. 

Placed in the municipality of A Pastoriza, Lugo, this wind farm allows for trials and tests to be carried out with up to five medium-power wind turbines (between 100 kW and 700 kW) for a total installed capacity of 2 MW. 

With a total investment of more than 2.5 million euros, the project will be carried out in two phases and is expected to be fully constructed within 24 months from the start of construction. In addition, the test centre will also be equipped with up to three meteorological towers and will have state-of-the-art facilities and equipment that will enable the testing of new wind turbine models in the future. 

The machines to be installed in the farm will be the nED100 wind turbines, designed and developed entirely by Norvento. With a height of 22 metres and 36-metre blades, these turbines have been specifically designed for medium consumption and are intended for use in distributed generation systems (self-consumption). During the 6 years of development of this technology, Norvento has exported more than 25 units to the United Kingdom, where they are already being used on farms and in port areas.

The Xunta de Galicia considers that Galician climatic conditions are particularly favourable for medium-power wind power technology. As such, it has made an effort to promote and encourage its development with the aim of providing efficient and sustainable energy solutions aimed at improving competitiveness and increasing the energy autonomy of the Galician industrial sector.

In fact, the development of this wind farm was made possible by the existence of a specific regulation benchmark in Galicia, brought forth in 2011 by the Xunta with the publication of Regional Decree 30/2011. This decree regulates the procedure for the authorisation of experimental wind farms with a high R&D&I component in the Autonomous Region of Galicia. It also allows the particularities of this type of experimental facility to be considered for their authorisation and development. 

The signature of the agreement was completed this morning between the Regional Minister of Economy, Employment and Industry, Francisco Conde and the President and CEO of Norvento, Pablo Fernández in the Government Area of the Galician Parliament.

For his part, Pablo Fernández Castro, President, and CEO of Norvento, congratulated the Xunta on the launch of this pioneering project in Spain. “We hope that the Galician industrial community will soon be able to benefit from the great potential offered by renewable technologies for distributed energy generation and self-consumption” he stated.