RWE has commissioned its 17th Spanish onshore wind farm. Rea Unificado is a 40.8-megawatt (MW) site in Soria in the north-east of Spain. RWE installed nine Nordex turbines with a rated output of 4.53 megawatts and a rotor diameter of 149 meter each – by far the largest and most powerful in its Spanish fleet. Rea Unificado will be able to supply the equivalent of 30,000 Spanish homes with green electricity annually.
Katja Wünschel, CEO Onshore Wind and Solar Europe & Australia, RWE Renewables: “Rea Unificado is the first RWE wind farm where we installed our wind turbines on innovative resource-saving ‘Soft-Spot® foundations’. They allow us to significantly reduce construction and material costs while increasing stability. This was quite a challenge. My special thanks go to the development and construction teams for making this innovation in Rea Unificado possible.”
The “Soft-Spot® foundations” used by RWE at Rea Unificado are reinforced concrete spread foundations placed on an insulating expanded polystyrene (EPS) layer. Instead of transferring the loads to the subsoil, the EPS redistributes them on a donut-shaped surface. This increases stability and reduces the diameter of the foundation slabs and volume of the concrete used. Thus, the amount of concrete and steel used was optimised, making the project more cost-effective and environmentally more sustainable.
Green growth in Spain
Due to its geographical situation, attractive external conditions and ambitious climate targets, Spain is ideally positioned to expand wind and solar power facilities. According to the national energy and climate plan, a total of 161 gigawatts (GW) of generation capacity are to be installed in the country by 2030, with more than 50 GW from wind power alone.
RWE, a global leader in renewable energy, has many years of construction and operating experience. The company now operates onshore wind farms in Spain with a total capacity of more than 480 MW. Currently, RWE is building its Orkoien onshore wind project to test innovative technologies to further promote sustainability.
RWE is also expanding its solar business in Spain: Last year, RWE commissioned the Alarcos ground-mounted solar power station with a capacity of 45 MWac. Furthermore, the company is involved in a photovoltaic plant in the province of Toledo and the Andasol III solar-thermal power plant in Andalusia. In addition, construction works for a total of 100 MWac of solar capacity are underway, which will be commissioned in the coming weeks.
In line with its growth ambitions, RWE is preparing the Wind and Solar PV projects in the existing development pipeline to take part in “Concurso de Capacidad”, the Spanish tenders to access capacity for the electricity transmission grid.
Pictures of Rea Unificado for media use (credit: RWE/GES) are available at the RWE Media Centre.