Minas
Context
Located 15km southeast of the city of Minas, in Lavalleja, Uruguay, Minas is a wind power plant in operation since 2014. With its 14 Vestas V112 3.0 MW wind turbines with rotor diameter of 112m and hub height of 84m, Minas has an installed capacity of 42MW. It is the second wind plant constructed by the Group in Uruguay.
All the outputs produced by the plant are sold to Administracion Nacional de Usinas y Trasmisiones Electricas (“UTE”) under a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement.
The electricity generated by the wind plant is equivalent to the energy demand of the entire department of Lavalleja, making it virtually self-sufficient.
The deployment of this plant also helped Uruguay to reach its actual renewable energy mix of 98% in 2016, becoming the first country to have such a high rate of green energies.
A field work
One of the main challenges was to canalize subterranean water which was found and ran across the plot where the utility’s substation was to be built.
Minas is located in a rocky hilly area, and significant civil works had to be carried out in order to comply with the requirements for the Wind Turbines Generator (WTGs) transportation and erection stages.
Still Onboard – passion & commitment
Most of the team which was involved in the construction and commissioning of the Uruguayan plants is now involved the asset management. French trainees which were part of the Uruguayan projects were promoted as junior professionals in the Akuo family in France and other countries.
During the busiest construction peaks, Akuo had up to 135 people working on site and more than 30 people working on the electro mechanic assembly. Also, 20 professionals have been directly hired from several different disciplines to work on this project.
Sharing with new generations
Since its operation, Parque Eólico Minas has opened its doors to receive visits from different schools and other educational centers to share with them the importance of renewable energy, as well as the knowledge of how a wind farm operates and the experience of being in one.
