Cavar wind farm complex is a 111MW wind project developed in Navarre, Spain. It can generate enough electricity to power 46,500 households annually and offset 84,000t of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
The wind project was developed with an investment of more than €100m ($112m) by Renovables de la Ribera, a 50-50 joint venture between Iberdrola and Caja Rural de Navarra, a Spanish cooperative banking group. It is one of the largest wind farms developed by Iberdrola in the country since 2012.
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The project was announced in January 2019 and was commissioned in June 2020, following 12 months of construction, which employed 200 people. The project also generated €80m ($90m) worth of purchases from local suppliers as the components for the turbines were manufactured in the regions of Asturias, Burgos, Cantabria, Navarre and Soria.
The Cavar wind farm complex will help Spain in meeting the European Commission’s proposed goal of producing 32% of the energy through renewable sources by 2030.
The project increases Iberdrola’s total renewable installed capacity to more than 15.8GW in Spain and more than 29.5GW globally.
Location of Cavar complex
Cavar wind farm complex is situated between the Cadreita and Valtierra municipalities in the Navarre Autonomous Community of northern Spain.
Cavar wind farm complex details
The Cavar complex comprises four wind farms made up of 32 of Siemens’ SG3.4-132 turbines with a rated power of 3.4MW each. The turbines are suitable for sites with medium and high wind conditions. They provide high energy production and low levels of noise emission.
The blades of the turbines are made of fibreglass and measure 64.5m in length. The rotor diameter of the turbines is 132m and swept area is 13,685m².
The turbines feature flexible power rating, site-specific towers and optimised balance of plant (BoP) solutions as per the OptimaFlex technology, which is aimed at delivering optimal solutions based on customer specifications.
The DinoTails Next Generation of the turbines is an aerodynamic blade add-on, which uses a serrated trailing edge mounted at the blade and finer combs in between the teeth to reduce the sound power levels. This maximises the annual energy production and reduces the levelised cost of energy in sites with noise constraints.
Any potential failures in the turbines can be detected in advance due to the sensors on the turbines, which transmit data to the Siemens diagnostic centres.
Financing for Cavar wind farm complex
The wind farm complex received financing of €50m ($55m) from the European Investment Bank (EIB) through a Green Loan. The project is allocated to EIB’s portfolio of loan operations funded through the issuance of Green Bonds as part of its Climate Awareness Bonds programme.
The loan is in support of EIB’s aim to establish itself as the EU climate bank by supporting Europe in its plans to become the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050.
Power purchase agreement
Cavar wind farm complex is the first wind project in the country to sell the power generated to a large corporation.
Iberdrola entered a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) to sell 40MW to Nike’s sports facilities in Europe. It is the third such agreement signed by the company with Nike apart from two in the US.
The Cavar wind farm complex PPA will result in Nike receiving a total of 209MW of renewable wind energy generated by facilities owned by Iberdrola
Contractors involved
Siemens Gamesa supplied and installed the wind turbines for the wind farm complex. It is also responsible for the maintenance of the turbines for a period of ten years.
LASO Transportes was contracted for transporting the project components.
