13-08-08 Spanish power utility Iberdrola has won a contract to build a EUR 43.1 mm ($ 64.1 mm) grid connection to nine new wind farms in the southern Spanish province of Huelva, Iberdrola said.
The contract was awarded by Comunidad de Bienes Sistema de Electrico de Andevalo, which is building the wind farms and is part-owned by Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa.

Together the nine wind farms have a capacity of 335 MW and are expected to start operating in 2009, Iberdrola said. It said this was the biggest project of its kind that its engineering and construction unit had ever undertaken in Spain "and one of the biggest contracts of its kind in the world."
The contract is for a 120 km 400 kV line (which will initially operate at 220 kV) between a new substation at Puebla de Guzand in Huelva province and Guillena in Sevilla province, both in the region of Andalucia.

It would connect to the 48 MW Los Lirios wind farm, the Retuerta (38 MW), El Almendro (43.5 MW), La Tallisca (40 MW), Valdefuentes (28 MW), Las Cabezas (17.4 MW), El Centenar (40 MW), El Saucito (30.25 MW) and Majal Alto (50 MW) wind farms.
Iberdrola said it would eventually form part of the main power grid in the region and would help reinforce cross-border power flows between Spain and Portugal. It said it would start building the line later this year and aimed to complete it by October 2009.