NEWS

CHILE: Endesa Chile opens Canela, the first wind farm of the Interconnected Central System.

Endesa Chile opened the wind farm Canela, the first one that actually provides energy to the Interconnected Central System (ICS), the main electric system of the country.

The initiative has an installed power of a total of 18,15 megawatts and consists of eleven turbines, with a generating capacity of 1,65 megawatts each

This wind farm shifts the emission of 27.251 tons of CO2 in a year. Also, it was announced that the expansion of Canela wind farm is already being studied in order to add another 70 megawatts.

This project, is connected to the ICS, using a transmission line of 2x220 kW Los Vilos –Pan de Azúcar, placed at 600 meters from the wind farm facilities.

Endesa Eco Wind Farm’s production enables a clean energy supply and to diversify the local energy matrix, through the introduction of non conventional renewable energy, helping so the electric supply of the country.

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CHILE: Project about non conventional renewable energies grows in the Senate.

Senators approved the idea to legislate about the initiative that modifies the General Energy Services Law in order to contribute with the incorporation of this kind of energies.

With this, the initiative, which covers its second process, is now in conditions for being studied in particular by the Energy and Mining Committee; the deadline is decided to be on January 4th in order to present indications.

It may be recalled that the text's main objective is to create conditions conducive for attracting investment in renewable energy projects , accelerating the development of the market, removing the barriers associated with innovation, and generating confidence in the electricity market for this type of technology.

The parliamentarian stressed the need to carry out a number of amendments during the argument, in particular to increase the target of 8% to nearly a 20% of renewable and clean energy, as well as increasing the fines.

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ARGENTINA: Capex will produce Wind Energy and Hydrogen.

Capex, the company that generates electricity in Senilosa with a gas of its own reservoir, announced yesterday that it will produce wind energy and hydrogen in facilities that will be built in the province of Chubut.

Capex’s plant in Senillosa is already qualified for the certificates of emission reduction of greenhouse gases, mandated by the Kyoto Protocol, due to its control system fumes.

The wind farm to be built in Comodoro Rivadavia will have a power of 6.000 kW, will generate around 21,6 GWh/year, and will provide the interconnected system through lines of 132 kW.

The hydrogen plant will be placed in the same city and will produce 850.000 cubic meters of this fuel and 425.000 of oxygen, each year.
It is estimated that the hydrogen plant will be working on the first half of the year 2008, and the wind farm starts to work at the middle of 2009.

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Pacific Hydro plans to develop renewable energy projects in Chile for around 500 million dollars, once the legislators of this country approve the law that boosts them.

Luis Arqueros, chief director of development and marketing of the firm, said that once the Unconventional Renewable Energies Law is approved, projects for 250megawatts will be developed.

The project was already adopted by the Chamber of Deputies and is currently being supervised by the Senate, and would be started during the first months of 2008.

"Pacific Hydro will keep on investing in the field of wind energy in Latin America. In Brazil, we started building our second wind farm Vale dos Ventos, and we expect it to enter into transactions at the end of 2008, which will have an installed capacity of 45 megawatts," Arqueros said.

The firm also announced the launching of the commercial operation of its wind field "Millennium" in northern Brazil, with an installed capacity of 10.2 megawatts and supply power to more than 40,000 homes in that country.

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Peñoles Group supports the development of renewable/alternative energy projects in Mexico.

After several studies searching for the best option to recover the investments and not creating pollution in the environment, they detected good areas to generate wind energy.

Two years ago, the firm promised to create a renewable energy area, and since then, they study the costs of electricity with the different renewable energy systems in the market; therefore, the investigators decided to use two kinds of energies: solar and wind energy. But, due to the high costs of the first mentioned one, they chose the second option.

In Chihuaha, Mexico, in Bismark mine, there are winds like in Europe, that means 7 meters/second, a class 3 wind close to a class 2, therefore this in area where economic projects could be developed.

At this position, Peñoles determined to develop the project in Bismark, adding that they already have the lands, the consume point and the electric line close enough.

However, an external factor that is affecting the start of the project is the cost of equipment, which has risen 43 percent during the last 12 to 18 months.

Peñoles has an agreement with the World Bank to support projects in different industrial sectors, and currently are preparing the register process for the projects and to obtain certificates of emission reduction.

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As a cause of their interest and effort to grow globally, Dynko Inc., opened their offices last month, which are already in operation in Austin, Texas. This with the aim to achieve better communication with American companies that are involved in the wind energy market, and increase its performance, effectiveness, and development as a leading manufacturer and distributor of turbines, and also Operation and Maintenance of wind farms.

Dynko Inc., with these offices, is now able to establish within a legal American framework for its participation in the wind industry of North America, which will result in a high growth of the company as well as better service to the customers.

Garrad Hassan (GH) releases new version 3.6 of its wind f¬arm design software, GH WindFarmer. The leading software package with its powerful features is available in 10 languages and with high quality global support. This new version provides even more, exclusive features including a detailed uncertainty analysis, expanded site conditions analysis and self-learning tutorials.

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LAWEA HIGHLIGHTS

It is available now the WIND EXPO – LAWEA 2008’s website. From now on, you will be able to see in www.windexpo.org all the information of the first International Conference and Exhibition of Wind Power and Renewable Energy organized in Mexico.

The exhibitor registration is now open, reason why we advise you to carry out its reservation soon to confirm a booth at WIND EXPO 2008.

It is also open the call for papers for our conference. We are inviting to the academic and industrial community to send their abstracts and become an essential part of this important event.

January 15th, the first deadline for discount prices to exhibitor booths!!! Book your stand now...

EVENTS

JOB OFFERS

It is already available for our members the "job offers section" for Wind opportunities in Latin America

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