The Reynosa I wind farm covers 8,000-hectares (19.8 acres), and is located on the Charco Escondido ejido (community lands) to the south of the northern border city. The wind farm was built by Spanish firm Acciona Energy for the Mexican company Zuma Energía and has 123 turbines, each reaching 120 meters (394 feet) into the sky.
Costing US $600-million, Reynosa I has the capacity to produce 424 megawatts (MW) of energy annually and supply electricity to 900,000 people. This project is the result of a total of 964 MW (megawatts) worth of wind and solar capacity, awarded in 2016 at Mexico’s second renewable energy power auction conducted by the Secretariat of Energy (Sener) and the National Energy Control Center (Cenace).
Nature grows around the Ventika- Ventika II wind power complex (252 MW) in Mexico #EnergyGramers
Thanks for the to our #EnergyGramer Diego A. Ochoa, technical operator at #ACCIONAEnergy pic.twitter.com/VRuPFTujdR
— ACCIONA (English) (@ACCIONA_EN) August 13, 2018
Zuma bid successfully for contracts to produce 725 MW of renewable energy. The company will eventually operate four other wind farms: Reynosa II, III and IV at the same site and Reynosa V at a different location 14 kilometers (8.6 miles) away.
Zuma Energia received $330 million in public loans for the development of the 424 MW and $642 million Reynosa III Wind Park, set to be developed in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The project also received a $110 million private loan from Santander Bank.
Other wind farms in operation
Five wind farms are currently in operation in Tamaulipas, while another seven are being built. The El Porvenir wind farm, a project developed by Grupo Ecos in Reynosa, generates 156.4 MW, and the company is planning a second phase of construction that will add an additional 72MW of capacity.
French company Engie operates a US $80-million wind farm in the municipality of Llera that generates 200.2 MW annually, while Mexican firm Gemex has two wind farms in Güémez, which generate power that is supplied to 311 Soriana supermarkets.
The surge in wind power has to do with the success of a 2012 law that went into effect in Mexico. The law confirmed Mexico’s intention of increasing the amount of electricity generated from clean energy sources, including nuclear energy, to 35 percent by 2024 and to 50 percent by 2050.
To put what has been happening in Mexico into context – Renewable Energy World writes that “the 2018 target required Mexico to build, in three years, the total wind farm capacity that Canada took 23 years to develop. Meeting even half the 2018 target requires the equivalent of the entire Danish fleet of wind turbines.”
