Vestas Secures 108 MW Order for its First Ever Bolivian Project

Vestas expands its global presence further and enters Bolivia with a 108 MW order for the three wind parks, San Julián, Warnes, and El Dorado, all located in the municipalities of Cocota, Warnes and Cabezas in Santa Cruz, central Bolivia. Upon completion, the three wind parks have a capacity of 40 MW, 14 MW and 54 MW respectively and will make up the Santa Cruz wind project and have a total capacity of 108 MW, which is four times the country’s total currently installed wind capacity.

Because of its large scale, the Santa Cruz wind project will significantly accelerate Bolivia’s journey towards phasing out fossil fuels and support the country’s ambitious climate goals, aiming at having 74 percent of its electricity come from renewables by 2025.

The order is placed by ENDE (Electricity National Company), a Bolivian state-owned company managing electric energy generation, transmission, and distribution in the country. Additionally, the project is supported financially by the development cooperation, Danida, which is Denmark’s development cooperation under Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dedicated to fight poverty through economic growth and promotion of human rights.

“The execution of this project together with an experienced partner like Vestas responds to the government’s aim to implement a more sustainable, clean and environmentally committed energy mix in the country. As of today, only thermoelectric energy is generated in the Santa Cruz department, so these three wind farms implementation will be transcendental to reduce CO2 emissions and to improve the environmental quality” says Engineer Rafael Alarcon, Minister of Energy, from ENDE.

“Vestas has pioneered more than 30 markets across the globe, and we are pleased to once again make our versatile and sound expertise in wind available to customers in a new market – this time Bolivia. With more than 4 GW installed in Latin America, Vestas plays a key role in supporting the continent’s green transition, and we will continue to work hard in order to deliver clean, competitive, and sustainable energy solutions to our customers in the future”, says Enric Català, Senior Director Sales LATAM, Vestas.

The order includes site construction supervision and a MV Collector system as well as supply and installation of 30 V136-3.45 MW delivered in 3.6 MW Power Optimised Mode. Turbine delivery is expected for 2019, while commissioning and take over is planned for the next year.