Iberdrola to Build World's Biggest Wind Farm in Romania
Like a fierce gale sweeping across the landscape, Spain's Iberdrola (OTC: IBDRY), the world's largest wind farm owner, continues adding to its wind assets (in 10 countries and counting).
The Spanish power utility this week announced it will build the world's largest onshore wind-energy project in southeastern Romania's Dobrogea region on the Black Sea.
Iberdrola received the go-ahead from the Romanian government to proceed with 1,500-megawatt Dobrogea project, nearly five times the output of the current largest wind farm in Europe—Whitelee in Scotland, a 322-megawatt facility.
The project is part of Iberdrola's plans to construct a series of 50 wind farms across the developing European nation between 2011 and 2017. By some estimates, the planned wind facility will cost US$2 billion to build. The company has a license to connect a total of 1.5 gigwatts of wind power to Romania's national electrical grid.
Romania has been beefing up its wind capacity to meet European Union mandated 2020 renewable energy targets. Iberdrola opened its first office in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, in 2009, part of an effort to expand its operations in Eastern Europe.
The company already operates wind farms in Hungary and Poland, is involved in projects in Bulgaria and Estonia, and is conducting preliminary studies in Russia.
To complete the projects, Iberdrola has partnered with Eolica Dobrogea (Schweiz) AG, a wind development company part owned by Swiss engineering firm NEK, and Romanian companies C-Tech and Rokura.
Learn more about Wind Power on eBoom's Wind Energy Learning Page.
Shannon Roxborough is a career freelance writer, editor and international consultant who has authored hundreds of articles for a variety of media. He's covered business, companies and investments spanning all sectors, including green energy and cleantech.
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