Forestalia, the Aragon-based promoter of renewable energy projects, has signed an agreement with three international companies, Mirova, GE and Engie, to build a 300-MW windfarm in the province of Zaragoza. This will be the first of these characteristics to be created in Spain free from premiums and public subsidies. With this capacity, it will cover the electricity consumption equivalent to the population of Zaragoza and contribute to avoiding the emission of 314,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

This is in fact one of the nine windfarms in the so-called Goya Project. The 300 megawatts they will produce in combination is the result of the first renewable energy auction, held in Spain in January 2016, in which Forestalia was awarded the contract. In future, this park will form part of an even larger project, a 1500-MW cluster in the Aragon Region.

Finance
According to its promoters, this is one of the most significant investments in renewable energy in Spain in recent years. Its construction is supported by the European Investment Bank (EIB), in addition to syndicated funding of 120 million euros underwritten by BBVA, CaixaBank and Santander.

The Goya Project is funded by equity of 140 million euros, in which the Mirova Eurofideme 3 fund has a 51% share, GE Energy Financial Services 25%, Engie 15% and Forestalia 9%. In addition, to finance the debt of around 170 million euros, it has a 50 million euro loan from the EIB within the European investment plan.

This is a total investment of 310 million euros based on a 12-year energy purchase contract, the first of its kind to be signed in the Spanish renewables market. With this contract, Engie guarantees the purchase of a large part of the electricity to be generated by the Goya Project.

The Government of Aragon has declared this project to be an investment of interest for the region, thus allowing the procedures to be accelerated. The windfarms will be located over an area of 24 square kilometers in the districts of Campo de Belchite, Daroca and Cariñena in the province of Zaragoza.

The partners
Engie, in a temporary business association (UTE) with Acciona and Copsa, will be in charge of building the new windfarms, and GE will install the turbines. GE's Center of Engineering Excellence in Barcelona will participate in manufacturing the wind turbines. The work will begin in this same six-month period and the aim is for the facilities to come on line before March 2020, the deadline set by the auction.

Forestalia, which now has a portfolio of 3.6 gigawatts of wind, photovoltaic and biomass power, expects the Goya Project to generate over 700 jobs during the construction phase and 50 permanent jobs when the complex comes on line.

The sustainable infrastructure fund Mirova Eurofideme 3 is managed by Mirova, a subsidiary of the French corporate and investment bank Natixis Investment Managers. The second partner, the US multinational GE (General Electric), has been present for over 60 years in Spain and Portugal, where it employs over 4,000 people. The third partner, the French energy company Engie, has over 2,000 employees in Spain.