Guatemala gets first ever wind farm

By agreenerlifeagreenerworld on August 5, 2014 • ( 1 Comment )

Guatemala’s San Antonio region. The region have been selected as the location for Guatemala’s first ever wind farm. Photo credit: Ciudades Emergentes via Flickr.

By Anders Lorenzen

The world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has confirmed they will construct the first ever wind farm in the Central American country Guatemala.

The wind farm is to be constructed in Guatemala’s San Antonio region and will consist of 16 turbines each with 3.3 megawatt (MW) capacity. Vestas are expecting to deliver the turbines at the end of this year and the wind farm is expected to come online and be connected to the grid in spring 2015.

With Vestas’ entrance into the Guatemalan market, the company are now operating in 36 countries and is the wind turbine manufacturer present in most countries in the world.

The wind farm will be owned by the companies Eólico San Antonio El Sitio S.A. and Wind Turbine Investments S.A. Corporation; two special-purpose companies who are dedicated to renewable energy development in Guatemala, as well as Nicaragua and the surrounding region. Commenting on the news, Jorge Sinibaldi, CEO of Eólico San Antonio El Sitio said:

“We look forward to the installation of the very first Guatemalan wind power plant with Vestas turbines.’’ Vestas VP Sales Region Mexico, Caribbean and Central America, Adrian Katzew Corenstein added: “Today, we are proud to be able to announce the signature for the first wind power plant in Guatemala. We look forward to continuing to help Guatemala develop renewable energy projects in order to increase the country’s energy independence”.

The San Antonio wind power plant will have an estimated annual production of 150,000 MWh, which will save the environment from over 40,000 tons of CO2 emissions on an annual basis, providing Guatemala with enough electricity to cover the residential electricity consumption of more than 890,000 people.