ContourGlobal to develop large scale wind farms in Peru

New York-based power-generation company ContourGlobal will construct and operate the 114MW Cupisnique and Talara large scale wind farms in Peru through its subsidiary, ContourGlobal Latam.

The company had earlier acquired both projects from Energia Eolica (EESA).

With concessions and long-term contracts awarded under the renewable energy resource (RER) program in Peru, output from the wind farms will be sold as 20-year US Dollar-denominated long-term power purchase agreements as part of the program.

Vestas Corporation has been named to supply turnkey engineering, procurement and construction at a projected cost of about $250m; the wind farms are expected to begin operations in 2013.

Cupisnique wind farm, located in the Capasmayo province of La Libertad region, will utilize 45 x 1.8MW Vestas V-100 wind turbine generators.

Talara wind farm, situated in the Talara province of Piura region will comprise 17 x 1.8MW Vestas V-100 wind turbine generators.

Both projects will be connected to the national grid in Peru after the construction of a substation and transmission line.

ContourGlobal president and CEO Joseph Brandt commented that the company is the first power company to foray into the Peruvian wind generation market.

"Cupisnique and Talara bring us into the dynamic and fast growing Peruvian economy whose continued impressive growth requires an increasing supply of reliable and low cost electricity," Brandt added.

Brandt further said that Peru’s significant renewable resource potential is brought to the fore with these projects, which also reinforce the company’s presence in regional generation and renewable power generation in Brazil and Colombia.

"We also welcome this opportunity to expand our collaboration with Montealto which will be constructing the wind farms with Vestas and has advanced the projects from early development to groundbreaking."