ContourGlobal, through its subsidiary Energia Eolica S.A., announced today that it had inaugurated its Cupisnique and Talara Wind Farms, becoming the largest wind farm owner and operator in Peru.
With a combined investment of nearly US $250 million, the Cupisnique and the Talara Wind Farms are the first operational projects in the northern region of the country and were connected to the National Interconnected Electric System (SEIN) last month. Each of the projects benefits from a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement entered into under Peru's Renewable Energy Resource Program.
"With the inauguration of ContourGlobal's Peruvian wind farms, the country is taking a big step towards realizing the benefit of integrating wind power into the nation's electricity grid. Peru is blessed with abundant wind resources, which makes wind generated electricity significantly less expensive than many of the fossil fuel power plants in the country," stated Alessandra Marinheiro, Chief Executive Officer ContourGlobal Latam.
The largest wind farms to operate in Peru
Today´s inauguration celebrates the successful conclusion of the twenty-two month construction of Cupisnique and Talara, which began in October 2012 and was accompanied by an exemplary safety record with over 1,000,000 hours worked with zero lost time incidents. ContourGlobal managed the construction of the sites, based on wind turbines built by Vestas, one of the world's leading wind turbine manufacturers. The 62 turbines are installed in two locations along Peru's windy Pacific coast and are Peru's largest wind farms as well as the largest wind farms in South America outside of Brazil.
"We would like to express our appreciation to COFIDE (Corporacion Financiera de Desarollo—Peru's national development bank), the Government of Peru and the communities of Pacasmayo and Talara for helping us to place Peru's largest wind complex into operation today. We have found Peru to be a very hospitable destination for new investment and look forward to growing with the country in the years to come,"stated Joseph C. Brandt, President & Chief Executive Officer of ContourGlobal.
ContourGlobal is an international power generation company, headquartered in New York with approximately 3,718MW in operation and under construction in 17 countries and on four continents. With 1,600 employees, the company operates a portfolio of 41 plants using a wide range of fuels and technologies, including the production of renewable energy from hydro, wind, solar and biomass sources, as well as an extensive fleet of conventional thermal energy.
In Latin America, ContourGlobal Latam has 1,626MW under development, construction and operation in Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Mexico and the Caribbean. Its current portfolio consists of 774MW in operation, 437MW of wind projects under construction in Brazil, and 415MW of wind and hydro projects under development in Mexico and Brazil. Contour's wind portfolio in Latin America includes Cupisnique and Talara, in Peru, with a total of 114MW of installed capacity, the Asa Branca Wind Complex, in Brazil, with 160MW of installed capacity and the Bonaire wind farm, in Bonaire, with 11.1MW of installed capacity.