PdV reactivating wind farm to supply refineries

Venezuela's state-owned PdV is seeking to reactivate a wind energy project designed to supply its faltering 940,000 b/d CRP oil refining complex on the Paraguaná peninsula.

The company said it has recommissioned 14 wind turbines with combined capacity of 18.4MW since March at the Los Taques wind farm, a 535-hectare mostly dormant facility south of Santa Cruz de Los Taques on the western side of the peninsula in Falcón state.

The Los Taques wind farm, originally designed for 71.28MW of capacity, was only partially operating when it was abandoned in 2016 by state-owned utility Corpoelec.

Built over 2008-12 by Spanish company Gamesa, the $600mn wind farm consists of 54 wind turbines of 1.32MW capacity apiece. Each turbine is 55m high, with rotors of 61m in diameter.

Los Taques was able to generate up to 31MW of electricity in 2014 but was shut down in second-half 2016, by which time generation had dropped to 8MW and the facility remained isolated from the national power grid.

PdV now expects to reactivate up to 30 of the 54 turbines at Los Taques this year to assure up to 27MW of dedicated supply to the CRP.

The CRP complex, which includes the 635,000 b/d Amuay refinery and the 305,000 b/d Cardón refinery, never received any electricity from Los Taques though it was conceived as a dedicated electricity source for the refineries.

Amuay currently is processing about 100,000 b/d and Cardón refinery is shut down completely, union officials at the CRP said. Both cited a lack of stable electricity supply as one of the main reasons why the complex is only running at around 10pc of its design capacity.

"We're the only active wind farm in Venezuela, and we're doing it independently, without (third party services) contracts and foreign companies," CRP technical manager Adolfo Quiroz said. "Corpoelec technicians are helping us."

Officials at Corpoelec and the CRP said repair crews are cannibalizing parts from some of the inactive turbines to recommission up to 30 others.

"Some wind turbines, blades and towers have been damaged by long-term exposure to ocean salt and no maintenance by Corpoelec," the CRP official said. "At best only 30 turbines are salvageable."

Los Taques is one of four wind projects with a combined capacity of 172MW announced in 2010 in the states of Falcon, Zulia, Nueva Esparta and Sucre. Gamesa built Los Taques, and Argentinian firm Impsa built the long-neglected 24MW Guajira project in Zulia. The wind projects in Nueva Esparta and Sucre awarded to Portuguese firm Galp never broke ground.

The electricity ministry estimates Venezuela's potential to generate wind farm electricity at over 10GW.

Most of Venezuela´s electricity comes from the 10GW Guri dam, but damage to a strategic transmission line left most of the country without service on at least a half dozen occasions in March and early April. Most thermoelectric assets are not operational because of a lack of feedstock and spare parts. In contrast to neighboring countries, wind and solar energy is virtually non-existent.