A much-delayed Querétaro wind farm will begin operation within a month, the director of the state’s energy agency (AEEQ), Mauricio Reyes, said on Sunday.
The company Eólica Huimilpan is developing the wind farm, located in the Huimilpan municipality. The 30 turbines will have the capacity to produce 30 megawatts of energy and are currently in their final testing and maintenance phase. An exact start date has not yet been specified.
“It is not yet producing energy, not yet delivering energy to the system. It is in a testing phase. A park of this nature, after being delayed for so long, has to undergo maintenance — this is very important,” Reyes said.
In 2017, the state government predicted that the plant would begin operations in 2018. However, it has been delayed for the last few years by pending permits. In January, Reyes announced that the company had secured the necessary authorizations but that the plant still needed to go through a series of tests before beginning operations.
“The tests last a few months because you have to test all of the equipment and all of the energy that enters the network. But it is only a matter of time — the administrative issue has already been resolved,” he said at the beginning of the year.
While at the time, the AEEQ estimated that the park would be ready in about a month, operations were further delayed due to unresolved technical issues and a pending municipal permit, which Reyes said the company has now obtained.
Querétaro governor Mauricio Kuri emphasized that the project has the support of the state government.
The governor explained that the wind farm will generate enough power to supply electricity to 30,000 homes. About US $56 million has been invested in the project.
With reports from El Economista and AM de Querétaro
