Elecnor will build a wind farm in Penonomé

The Spanish company will build a wind turbine plant that will transform the wind energy into usable electrical energy, with an investment of $150 million and under the EPC (turnkey) contract .

The company of renewable energies, infrastructures and new technologies Elecnor was awarded the construction of the Toabré Wind Farm, located in the municipalities of Penonomé and Antón, in the province of Coclé, Republic of Panama.

As reported by the company to the National Securities Market Commission  the regulatory body in Spain that oversees the securities markets of the European country, the wind farm will have an installed capacity of 66 megawatts and an estimated production of 240 gigawatt hours per year.

Elecnor will develop the entire project of  with the engineering, supply, construction and commissioning of the park during a construction period of 22 months, which will equip the plant with 20 Vestas V117 wind turbines.

The contract also includes two substations, the evacuation and the interconnection to the national network, and a 230 kv transmission line, with an extension of 27 kilometers.

Controversial history

Elecnor, who is chaired by industrial engineer and veteran Spanish executive Jaime Real de Asúa , has had a presence in Panama since 2010, but his record was tainted by a case of international corruption involving the former ambassador of Spain in India Gustavo Aristegui and the ex-deputy of the Party Popular (PP) of the European country Pedro Gómez de la Serna.

The judge of the National Court José de la Mata opened proceedings at the end of 2015 to have evidence that the former PP militants committed to seek business for Elecnor through payments of bribes to public officials in several countries, including Panama.

In accordance with what was declared in September 2016 before the Spanish authorities by the businessman José Faya, partner of the previous ones, to secure the award in 2013 of the extension and rehabilitation of the Dr. Rafael Hernández public hospital, in the province of Chiriquí, to the Spanish company Elecnor, a bribe of 10% of the work was paid to the then president of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli.

Sources of the investigation revealed that Faya, who worked as a commercial representative in Panama, was present in a conversation in which it became clear that "Martinelli had taken 10%", placing the tender on hand, which finally was awarded for a value of $115 million to the consortium formed by the Spanish companies Acciona and Elecnor. The Social Security Fund of Panama dissociated itself from the supposed cost overruns of the public contract when the scandal broke.

Elecnor has also set up other projects in Panama, such as the construction of the Chepo and Chitré polyclinics, for a total of $20 million, also for the Social Security Fund, and the expansion of the transport capacity of the Mata de Nance-Veladero and Guasquitas-Veladero transmission line worth $24 million  for the state-owned Empresa de Transmisión Eléctrica, SA