Malaga wind farm to remove 38 turbines while almost doubling its electricity output

That is the proposal that Naturgy has just put forward for its Los Llanos wind farm in Casares, Malaga province. The company has announced that it will replace 46 wind turbines with just eight state-of-the-art units, maintaining the same installed capacity while increasing electricity generation by around 92 per cent. In addition, the new facility will incorporate a battery storage system.

The project will help reduce the visual and landscape impact, above all from an environmental perspective, as birds will encounter far fewer obstacles.

The initiative forms part of the technological transformation programme for six of Naturgy's wind farms.

The repowering of the Los Llanos wind farm will see eight state-of-the-art turbines installed, which are far more efficient than the current ones, while maintaining virtually the same installed capacity of 33.4 MW.

Annual renewable energy production, however, will grow to around 149 GWh, compared with the current 77 GWh. This will almost double electricity generation and optimise the use of wind energy.

At the same time, reducing the number of wind turbines will minimise land use and maintenance requirements. In addition, battery storage will help improve the flexibility of the farm and facilitate more efficient integration of renewable energy into the electricity system, as the stored electricity can supply consumers at times of peak demand, which does not necessarily coincide with real-time wind power generation.

Los Llanos is Naturgy's largest wind farm in Andalucía and one of the company's long-standing assets in the region. The farm currently supplies renewable energy equivalent to the needs of around 22,000 households and prevents the emission of approximately 44,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

The project forms part of the technological transformation programme that Naturgy is carrying out at six wind farms in Andalucía, Catalonia, Castilla y León, Navarre, Aragon and Castilla-La Mancha, with a total budget of 330 million euros.

Through this programme, the company will replace 274 wind turbines with 40 higher-powered and more efficient units, while maintaining installed capacity and increasing overall output by around 75 per cent.

These projects have received 68 million euros from EU funds under the second call for investment grants for the repowering of wind farms and the technological and environmental modernisation of small hydroelectric power stations with a capacity of up to 50 MW.

Naturgy has extensive experience in developing wind farm repowering projects in Spain. It is currently spearheading the modernisation of several sites in Galicia and was a pioneer in this field with the repowering of the Cabo Vilano wind farm in 2016, where it succeeded in increasing renewable energy output while significantly reducing the number of wind turbines and the visual impact of the site.

Naturgy is also behind technological modernisation and environmental improvement projects at six small-scale hydroelectric power stations across Spain: the Bolarque I (Guadalajara); Las Picadas, San Juan and Buenamesón (region of Madrid); Puente Nuevo (Ávila) and the La Toba dam (Cuenca).

These projects involve the modernisation of equipment and the implementation of measures to optimise the operation of the power stations and reduce their impact on the water environment.

To carry out these projects, the company has secured a grant of 2.84 million euros in this second call for proposals, equivalent to 30 per cent of the planned investment.

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