The Baja California State Energy Commission (CEE) is working on a project to increase energy generation at the La Rumorosa 1 wind farm, with the installation of six or seven wind turbines with greater capacity than the five already installed, its director reported. General Joaquín Gutiérrez Ley.
The project, which is expected to begin at some point during this administration, would imply an increase in generation of 25 megawatts, more than double the 10 megawatts currently produced with the five wind turbines.
“Right now we have a project where we want to interconnect the wind farm to the Río Colorado-Tijuana aqueduct, and there we would put a larger gauge line, and we could increase production capacity”
Isaí Gómez, deputy director of Projects and Innovation of the State Energy Commission, recognized that one of the impediments to the growth of the wind farm is that the energy generated is transported through a distribution line of the Federal Electricity Commission ( CFE), which does not have capacity for a larger quantity.
This represents a limitation that other projects do not have, such as the Sempra company’s wind farm in the same area, since they do not inject energy into the Baja California electrical system, so part of the project includes the creation of an exclusive line.
“That is the idea, to no longer use the CFE line to transport the energy that is produced there, simply to make its own line that links the wind farm with Pumping Plant #5 of the aqueduct, in order to be able to transport that energy”
According to Gutiérrez Ley, the authorities are already in the process of managing the right of way for electrical energy with both the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) and the Ejido Jacumé, to review that this project does not obstruct any development plan in the area.
“Once we have the consent, we do the engineering project in detail, and then we have to fund it and then put it out to tender; Yes, we bring approximately 45 million pesos,” he said.
The official indicated that the meeting with the ejidal authorities is scheduled for the month of September, and that conversations have even been had about the project with CFE without the slightest problem having arisen.
Although a start date for the project was not announced, the director general of the Energy Commission mentioned that, if the go-ahead is given, it is estimated that it would take around a year to install the new wind turbines.
Officially inaugurated in 2010, the La Rumorosa 1 wind farm currently has five wind turbines and produces an average of 20 thousand megawatts of energy per year.
This energy, explained Gutiérrez Ley, is sold to the Mexicali City Council at a lower cost than the CFE rate, around 5% less, and is used for public lighting in the municipality, representing around 50% of the demand.
Likewise, what is raised goes to the “Light up your day” program of the Baja California Welfare Secretariat, which consists of financial support for the payment of electricity for low-income people in summer.
