Acciona Energía’s Eurus wind farm project for Cemex recognised by IADB

Acciona Energía has been awarded the Infraestructura 360° prize by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in the ‘Population and Leadership’ category. The award was presented on 27 March at the IADB’s annual meeting in Busan, South Korea.

The Eurus wind farm in Oaxaca, Mexico, was announced as the winning project. This was built and operated by Acciona Energía México as a self-supply project for Cemex. The wind farm, which represents an investment of US$550 million, comprises 175 x 1500 kW turbines that generate a total of 250.5 MW. The Eurus site produces around 989 GWh of electric power a year.

The project was chosen by an international jury and evaluated using the infrastructure sustainability analysis methodology developed by the Zofnass-Harvard Programme at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. According to the evaluation report, the facility ‘has demonstrated excellent performance in the improvement of the quality of life of the community where it is located’.

Acciona Energía has invested more than US$0.5 million in social and environmental initiatives to improve the quality of life of those in the local community.

Environmental measures include the monitoring and control of noise levels during the construction phase of the facility, preserving historical and archaeological remains, improving the local road network and developing a drainage system to prevent water accumulation in flood prone areas.

A range of social programmes have been introduced by the company, such as a Community Investment Plan, a Community Bioclimatic Centre, health care initiatives, among others.

Adapted from press release by Louise Fordham

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/01042015/acciona-energia-eurus-wind-farm-wins-iadb-award-627/