Iowa project will use ACCIONA turbines

ACCIONA Windpower has signed an agreement to supply 10 AW125-3000 wind turbines to Building Energy of Milan, Italy, for a 30-megawatt wind farm in central Iowa.

Under the agreement, ACCIONA Windpower will deliver the wind turbines and provide operations and maintenance services to the $55 million project for 10 years. The wind farm, which will be north of Des Moines, is expected to be operating by November 2016 and supply electricity to Alliant Energy.

ACCIONA Windpower, a subsidiary of ACCIONA Energía, will support the project from its North American headquarters in West Branch. The wind turbines will be manufactured at an ACCIONA Windpower plant in Spain.

Each of the turbines will have a rotor diameter of 125 meters and a 3-megawatt generator mounted on an 87.5-meter steel tower. The project will expand ACCIONA Windpower's footprint in the United States to more than 1,400 megawatts.

Building Energy is a global renewable energy company with experience in 24 countries. The Iowa project will be Building Energy's first wind farm in the United States.

'ACCIONA Windpower is proud to partner with Building Energy to further the growth of clean energy here in Iowa and around the globe,” said Enrique Teruel, CEO of ACCIONA Windpower North America, in a news release. 'We are confident that ACCIONA Windpower's turbine technology will help make this project a success.”

Andrea Braccialarghe, Building Energy Managing Director USA, said ACCIONA Windpower was selected for its expertise and the performance of its turbines.

'ACCIONA turbines will be used for the development of a series of medium-sized wind farms in Iowa,” Braccialarghe said.

ACCIONA suspended production of wind turbines at the West Branch plant in 2014 because of slack demand.