Iberdrola Opens Santa Estevo II Hydro Plant

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - The official opening of one of Spain's largest hydroelectric power schemes has taken place in Galicia.

The new Santo Estevo II facility took four and a half years to construct at a cost of €127 million ($170 million). It has a total installed capacity of 441-megawatts (MW) and an estimated annual production of 1,000 gigawatt hours (GWh), which the owner Iberdrola Renovables S.A. (Valencia, Spain) said is "enough clean power" to meet average energy demand of approximately 285,000 homes.

The project was officially inaugurated by Iberdrola chairman, Ignacio Galan, and the President of Galicia's regional government, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo. The Santo Estevo II hydroelectric power plant is located on the Sil river basin, close to the village of Nogueira de Ramuin (Ourense).

Iberdrola has invested over €1.1 billion in the Galicia region and made purchases of €1.2 billion from more than 200 local providers in the past ten years alone. Last week the company revealed that it has spent more than €25 billion ($33 billion) on developing renewable energy projects globally over the last decade. For additional information, see June 12, 2013, article - Iberdrola Spends €25 billion on Renewables.

"It is our intention to continue supporting Galicia as we have until now, actively supporting local manufacturers and service providers and being an engine for growth" said Galan. He added that the San Pedro power plant extension, located downstream from Santo Estevo, will be completed in 2016.

The new Santo Estevo II facility utilised most of the existing infrastructures: dam, reservoir, substation and export power lines. To minimise its environmental impact, the new powerhouse has been built underground, which Iberdrola claimed is one of the most important engineering feats in the region's recent history.

"The construction of this plant...was completed in compliance with the strictest environmental criteria and in a cavern design, so as to minimise the visual impact and effects on the ecosystem in such a privileged area as the River Sil Canyons," explained Fernando Perán MonteroBio, one of the lead engineers on the project. "This same criterion was also applied to the design of the electromechanical equipment at the plant, where our commitment to preserving biodiversity in the area meant that the very latest technical advances were always implemented, such as the use of double layer heat exchangers or detectors to identify oil in cooling and pumping circuits."

In related hydroelectric news, Iberdrola is expected to complete the new 852-MW La Muela pumped storage hydroelectric power plant later this year.

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