The construction of the Minas de Huascachaca Wind Power Project (PEMH) is 56% complete, which is in the province of Loja, in the Saraguro canton, in the San Sebastián de Yuluc parish.
It is an electricity production plant, which takes advantage of the strong winds in this area. The air currents move a set of blades, supported on towers and connected to wind turbines.
The company Electro Generadora del Austro (Elecaustro) is the owner of this work and its manager, Antonio Borrero, reported that they plan to start the operation in January 2022. It will have an installed capacity of 50 megawatts (MW), with 15 wind turbines with a unit power of the order of 3.3 MW, and an expected average annual gross production of 132.9 gigawatt-hours (GW.h.).
According to Borrero, this infrastructure is being executed with financing from the Banco del Estado (BDE) for 54,000,000 dollars plus own resources from Elecaustro, which will be the institution that operates it for the next 25 years. He indicated that the two substations, located in La Paz and Uchucay, are advanced. The transmission line needs the energization tests to verify its operation. All this will be ready until January 15, 2021.
He also explained that until December 22 of this year the last of the three road fronts, which goes to the San Sebastián de Yuluc area, must be completed. Likewise, the processes for the construction of the foundations, for the two groups: Uchucay and Yuluc (each one feeds eight wind turbines) are in the final stages of the tender.
They will be awarded before the end of the year. Dongfang Electric International Corporation, from China, is making progress with the construction of wind turbines. It does it for 45,800,000 dollars, plus transportation, assembly and commissioning for another 10,300,000 more. “They give us a two-year guarantee and they have to be monitoring the operation of the following years 2022 and 2023, and accompanying us in the operation …”, he indicated.
Marcelo Salamea, an electrical engineer, believes that the construction of the Minas de Huascachaca Wind Project (PEMH) is an important advance for the generation of clean energy for the country. “It is important to say that wind energy has become for the whole world a key source of electricity generation for changing the energy model and reducing pollution…”, he pointed out.
For Salamea, it is important that the National Government reinforces its environmental protection policy in this regard and looks for other areas where more of these plants can be built. (CSM) – (I) For an amount of 2,075,906 dollars, the Public Company of the University of Cuenca (UCuenca EP) supervises the manufacture, transportation and assembly of the wind turbines of the Minas de Huascachaca Wind Project (PEMH). Likewise, this institution will inspect the construction of platforms, accesses, foundations, collector circuit and commissioning of this power generation plant, which uses the wind to produce electricity. For Milton Solano, an electrical engineer, this will allow local technicians to acquire knowledge about this type of equipment, which means an important advance in the training of these professionals.
