MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Patagonia will have the world’s most important wind power park

Argentina could become Latinamerica’s leader in green energies

Spanish energy company Grupo Guascor will build a 2.4 billion US dollars wind power park in Argentine Patagonia, which could be the largest in the world said on Monday Jose Grajales president of the corporation

The wind power plant will produce between 600 and 900 megawatts generated by 700 turbines and will be twice the size of the largest plant operating in Europe “it’s going to be the world’s most important wind farm”, said Grajales.

The project is scheduled to take around three years to complete and will boost the percentage of power generated by windmills to 5% of Argentina's energy matrix. The park is to be built in Pico Truncado, in the wind-swept province of Santa Cruz, extreme south of Argentina.

The agreement was signed during a ceremony in Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz, headed by Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

According to the project presented, the wind park will be producing 300MW by the end of 2010 and the rest will be operational by the end of 2011. “Private Spanish funds will be responsible for 100% of the investment” said Grajales.

“With this project Argentina will become Latinamerica’s leader in the so called renewable green energies, not counting hydroelectric power”, added the president of Guascor.

Mrs. Kirchner also authorized the construction of a 500 kilowatt power line, without which, said Grajales, the wind farm couldn't be built.

The project would entail a sudden and remarkable turnaround in the fortunes not just of the wind power industry in Argentina, but of the wider power sector, which has been beset by unfriendly pricing structures, excessive bureaucracy and a lack of access to credit.

The 6.500 hectares park has been leased by the provincial government to Guascor for thirty years. It is estimated that 300 permanent jobs will be created by the wind park plus 900 indirect jobs.