The Spanish firm SÓLIDA is responsible for project management and construction supervision, in whose construction three Dominican contractors participate
The commissioning and start-up phase of the Matafongo wind farm in the Dominican Republic begins
With an investment of more than 87 million dollars, the Matafongo wind farm, promoted by the Grupo Eólico Dominicano in the province of Peravia, is already in the final stretch for its commissioning, which will take effect next March. It has installed 17 Gamesa G97 2.0 MW wind turbines, totaling 34 MW, a booster substation and 10 km of 138 kV evacuation line.
The Spanish firm SÓLIDA plays a key role as owner’s engineering, assuming the project management in which for the first time, in the absence of an integrating EPC contractor, only participate three Dominican contractors (Cimenta, Ennova and Servinca) and a Project Finance supported by local banks.
The SÓLIDA on-site team is made up, among others, of a Project Manager, a Civil Site Manager, an Electromechanical Site Manager, a Quality Supervisor and a Health and Safety Coordinator. “Our role is to ensure that all the parties involved in the project push for a common goal: optimal product quality, with the highest levels of work safety and at the pace of execution required by the client. And this can only be achieved with good communication between the different stakeholders”, indicates engineer Ángel Bertol, director of the project for SÓLIDA.
In addition to Matafongo, the Agua Clara and El Guanillo wind farms are also in an advanced stage of construction, and in the second quarter of the year they will add another 100 MW of renewable energy to the energy network of the Caribbean country, which currently has 175 MW wind farms in operation.
“In a country with a strong energy deficit like this one, in which we frequently experience power outages of up to 12 hours, this type of project contributes to partially alleviate the shortcomings of rural areas that are farthest from tourism,” concludes Bertol.
In this line, the National Energy Commission recently announced that it seeks to relaunch investments in renewables with new provisional concessions for wind and photovoltaic projects.