New wind power project in La Pampa with 100 MW: 229 meter high wind turbines

Private investors and authorities from the National Directorate for Regulation and Development of the Electric Sector continue the administrative steps for the creation of a large wind farm meters from the Colorado River, southwest of La Pampa. It is an initiative, called Los Arroyos Wind Park, which foresees 100.8 megawatts: it can provide electricity to between 130 thousand and 150 thousand homes – according to the average consumption of La Pampa -, although investors – taking other areas of the country – speak of 200 thousand. That is, in either case, it would supply the entire province with clean energy.

As Diario Textual learned, in the last few hours progress was made with a key step: the company Energías Renovables Los Arroyos requested its entry into the Wholesale Electricity Market (MEM) as a generating agent.
In this framework, it reported that it intends to connect to the system through a new transformer station – to be built – with the Pichi Mahuida Transformer Station – which was built at the time to supply energy to the Colorado River Aqueduct.
If completed, it will be the largest wind farm in the province. To give an idea of the magnitude, the Banderita Wind Farm (in the General Acha area) produces 40 megawatts with 11 windmills of 3.6 MW each. In the case of the one projected in Pichi Mahuida, it would be more than double that power. Initially, 23 Vestas mills were planned, each with a power of 5.6 megabytes, which estimated a maximum power of 128.8 megabytes to supply 252,947 basic homes.
They clarified that the project could be modified: in fact, in the Official Gazette of the Nation this week they already put the power at 100.8 megabytes (to supply about 200 thousand houses, according to their calculations). That is, they went down from 23 to 18 mills.

The mills are huge. Each will have three blades arranged at 120° (they will have a rotor diameter of 162 meters and will be mounted on a steel tower). The hub height will be 148 meters and the maximum total height will reach 229 meters.

The park is intended to be built on a private field, located on the Colorado River. The property has a total area of 2,423 hectares (strictly speaking, 50 hectares of the entire field will be used), 5 kilometers northwest of the intersection of provincial routes 34 and 11. It is located 50 kilometers from Cuchillo Co, 75 from La Adela, 100 from Puelches, 125 from Gobernador Duval and 150 from General Acha.

As communicated when the environmental impact study was carried out, the project is considered to be “compatible” with its environment. “100% of the work is located in a rural area, it does not interfere with urban or peri-urban areas. For this reason, no incompatibility is identified between the project and the area where it is installed,” it was reported. “According to the results of the study, no significant unwanted effects derived from the Project are identified. The (environmental) impacts detected are medium or low level and are controlled with correct environmental management. The undesired effects of the project are mitigated with the implementation of the Mitigation Measures Plan and the programs developed in the Environmental Management Plan and Monitoring Plan, both for the construction and operation stages, which form an integral part of this document. which includes all the necessary recommendations to carry out the construction of the work.”