Acciona has started operation of the 198 MW La Chalupa wind farm located in Texas, US. This is Acciona’s tenth wind farm in the US. With the commissioning of this wind farm, Acciona’s installed wind capacity in the country now exceeds 1,000 MW. The La Chalupa consists of 63 Nordex AW3150 turbines.
The wind farm is located in Cameron County, where Acciona already has two other wind farms in operation (93 MW San Román and 145 MW Palmas Altas wind farms). The La Chalupa wind farm will produce more than 650 GWh of electricity per year, equivalent to the consumption of more than 62,500 US households, and will prevent the emission of more than 420,000 tons of CO2 each year.
The AW3150 turbines installed in La Chalupa are ideal for the wind conditions of the region and are similar to those already operated by Acciona in the adjoining park of Palmas Altas. The turbines have a rotor diameter of 125 meters and are mounted on steel towers at a height of about 90 meters. The project includes the construction of an 18 km power line to connect the park to the grid. The electricity produced will be marketed in the Wholesale ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) market in South Texas.
La Chalupa will be Acciona’s tenth wind farm in the United States. In addition to the other two facilities in Texas (San Román and Palmas Altas), Acciona operates three parks in Oklahoma (329 MW), two in North and South Dakota (192 MW), one in Illinois (101 MW) and one in Iowa (6 MW). In the solar sector, the company owns and operates the Nevada Solar One (64 MW) thermoelectric plant and has a portfolio of 3,000 MW of projects.
