Last June 10, the Articles of Incorporation of the company Eólica Rionegrina S.A. were signed by INVAP S.E. (Argentine state-owned applied research company) and Transcomahue S.A. (provincial company of power transmission). The official ceremony took place at INVAP’s headquarters and was presided over by the Governor of the Province of Río Negro, Mr. Alberto Weretilneck. The Secretary of State for Energy, Engineer Marcelo Echegoyen, the General Manager & CEO of INVAP, Lic. Héctor Otheguy, and the Manager of Industrial Technology and Alternative Sources of Energy, Engineer Hugo Brendstrup, attended the meeting among other authorities.
The aim of Eólica Rionegrina is the building and implementation of a wind park in the area of Cerro Policía (Province of Río Negro). INVAP has two very high towers there that were installed several years ago to measure at different levels the wind speed and direction. Thus, it allowed an accurate wind resource assessment of the area, which provided fundamental information to develop the entrepreneur.
In that regard, the Governor Weretilneck said that “we take great pride in the good news that INVAP always gives to the Province of Río Negro and to the country. Today, another dream begins with the combination of two stories. On the one hand, the story of INVAP that has long investigated and worked on the use of renewable energy; and on the other hand, our Secretary of Energy that fully realizes the importance of the different kinds of energies for the growth of Río Negro and essentially for the provincial integration, thinking ahead about the energy supply at least a decade.”
The wind farm will have a capacity of approximately 17 MW at the initial stage. The project includes its future expansion by adding wind turbines with similar characteristics until it reaches around 300 MW of installed capacity in a state-owned property of 50 km².
Moreover, the project involves the installation of a 31 km high-tension line (132 kilowatts) that will interconnect the wind park with El Chocón transformer station in order to inject the energy generated into the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI, in Spanish).
