Progress continues on the General Levalle Wind Farm, with 155 MW of installed capacity, which YPF Luz is building in the province of Córdoba. To date, the first 5 wind turbines have been assembled, a significant milestone in the industry, because they are the largest in Latin America.
Each assembly involved the installation of 5 sections of towers to reach the 125 meter height of each wind turbine. Then the nacelle, the power train, the hub and finally, the set of blades were installed, which have an approximate length of 79 meters. Each assembled wind turbine has a power of 6.2 MW, weighs 395 tons and has a total height of 204 meters.
To carry out all the logistics, a special 600-ton crane was used, assisted by other smaller equipment, which supported the assembly and assembly maneuvers. To date, the project has involved more than 700,000 hours of work. It should be noted that the wind and atmospheric conditions were constantly monitored to be able to carry out the assembly within the acceptable safety range.
“This is a new milestone for our company, which was possible thanks to the professionalism and articulated work of all areas involved in the project. We feel great satisfaction in seeing this challenge materialized. The assembly of the first wind turbines encourages us to continue working to to see the park put into operation and overcome all the challenges until we see the goal achieved,” said Gonzalo Seijo, Engineering and Project Manager of YPF Luz.
The same sequence will be implemented for the remaining 20 wind turbines that the park will have in total. Mechanical completion, testing and commissioning activities will then begin.
Characteristics of the General Levalle Wind Farm
- Investment: US$ 262 million.
- Capacity factor: 51.7%.
- Installed power: 155 MW.
- General Levalle I: 62 MW – 10 wind turbines.
- General Levalle II: 93 MW – 15 wind turbines.
- Employment during construction phase: 200 average people, 400 at construction peak.
- Surface: 4,360 hectares.
- 350,000 TN CO2 of carbon dioxide avoided per year.
- Energy equivalent to the needs of 190 thousand homes.
- 1 substation to connect both parks to the national interconnected system through a 66 kV and 132 kV line that are linked to the Levalle ET of EPEC.
Characteristics of Wind Turbines
- Technology: Vestas (model).
- Installed capacity: 6.2 MW.
- Dimensions: tower height: 125m – Blade length 79.35m. Total height 204 meters.
- Weight: 360 tons.
