Iberdrola has invested 500 million Australian dollars (318.7 million euros) in its first hybrid wind and solar project in the world, Port Augusta , located in Australia, after being registered in the National Electricity Market by the Electricity Market Operator Australian energy.
In a statement, it has been reported that the total capacity 317 MW project combines a 210 MW wind farm and a 107 MW photovoltaic plant and is made up of 50 wind turbines and 250,000 solar panels.
Thus, the plant will prevent the emission of 400,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere per year and will be capable of generating enough clean energy to supply the demand equivalent to the consumption of 180,000 Australian homes.
According to Iberdrola, the commissioning of Port Augusta will make an important contribution to achieving the ambitious goals of South Australia, which expects to reach 100% renewable energy by 2030.
The project, which has generated 200 jobs during its construction, has had the participation of local, global and Spanish suppliers .
Specifically, the Spanish company Elecnor has been the company in charge of building the plant’s substation and the transmission line, as well as the storage areas and access roads, while Vestas has manufactured and installed the 50 4.2 -gauge wind turbines MW of unit capacity in the wind farm. For its part, Longi has supplied the solar panels for the photovoltaic plant and Sterling & Wilson has been responsible for its construction.
Australia, a growing market
Iberdrola values ​​Australia as a growing market for renewable energy and has highlighted that it is a country that is undergoing a “profound transformation” from a centralized generation system based on large fossil fuel facilities (coal and natural gas). ) to another of distributed generation, fundamentally with wind and solar energy.
At the beginning of the month, the company promised to invest between 2,000 and 3,000 million euros in Australia to promote the change towards renewable energies in the country , as reported by the company on Monday.
Investments will be linked to new projects such as the Avonlie solar farm in southwestern New South Wales, the Flyers Creek wind farm in central New South Wales, and the Port Augusta renewable energy complex in South Australia, the largest hybrid wind-solar farm in the southern hemisphere.