MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

YPF Luz officially opens Cañadón León wind farm in Argentine Patagonia

“A wind farm is clean energy to grow and to develop we need energy,” Governor Alicia Kirchner said.

Argentina's YPF Luz - the electricity division of the traditional state-owned oil company - has officially opened its third wind farm, Cañadón León, which is expected to supply 123 MW of renewable energy to the national system, it was reported Thursday.

The new plant has 29 wind turbines, which would generate energy to meet the needs of some 150,000 households, according to press reports.

The 1870-hectare Cañadón León plant is in the northeast of the Argentine Province of Santa Cruz, in the town of Cañadón Seco.

The wind farm, which began operating in December 2021, has a capacity factor of 53%, one of the highest efficiency levels in the world, and avoids the emission of more than 312,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.

The farm required an investment of more than US$ 180 million and is the first milestone of YPF Luz's Renovar project.

Cañadón León is linked to the national network through the Santa Cruz Norte High Voltage line, which -according to experts- improves the quality of the electricity supply to residents and fuels the water purification plant at Caleta Olivia.

The launching ceremony was attended by Santa Cruz Governor Alicia Kirchner; Federal Undersecretary of Electric Energy Federico Basualdo; Climate Change Secretary Cecilia Nicolini; San Juan Governor of San Juan, Sergio Uñac (virtually); YPF President Pablo González; YPF CEO Sergio Affronti, and YPF Luz CEO Martín Mandarano, among others.

“When you think about the development of a province or a country, you think about the long term. I am happy to have invested in line 132, which today joins this wind farm. It is essential to add value to our province, to put science at the service of development. A wind farm is clean energy to grow and to develop we need energy,” Governor Kirchner said.

González highlighted the company was going through a “process of energy transition; the world is moving towards it.”

“This transition is financed with the resources we have today of oil and gas. We need to take advantage of those resources in a rational way,” he added.

“We are thinking ahead,” he also pointed out.