The Labraza wind farm will be the first in the Basque Country with citizen investment and a pioneer in environmental technology

• Iberdrola and the Basque Energy Agency (EVE) will offer citizens the opportunity to invest through crowlending. This type of collective collaborative financing allows investors to obtain a quick return on their investment with interest generated by the wind farm. In the initial phase, it is aimed at residents of Oion and Rioja Alavesa.
• In addition, the neighbourhoods of Labraza and Barriobusto will benefit from a special energy tariff once the renewable infrastructure is up and running.
• The renewable project that is planned in the municipality of Oion, promoted by Aixeindar, the company involved by Iberdrola and the Basque Energy Agency, is already in execution and in its construction will not be circulated through the center of Labraza.
• In the transfer of its blades, it will use Blade Lifter technology, a pioneer in Europe, which uses the inclination of the blade to make its transport easier. Through a hydraulic lift, the blade is raised, reaching an inclination of about 65 degrees, or even turned, to avoid the sail effect of the wind, thus facilitating circulation on narrow roads, with closed curves or even by urban centers.
• The Labraza wind farm will become the first to be launched in the Basque Country since 2006 and will do so with an investment of 59 million euros, in an operation that represents a boost for the supply chain of the Basque wind industry, a sector in which the Basque Country is a leader in the market.
• The works have been awarded to the Navarre firm ECAY, the wind turbines to Siemens Gamesa and the extension of the evacuation substation to the EDS engineering, both Basque firms; the project does not require an evacuation line since an existing one is used that connects to the electricity network (REE) in Laguardia.
• The installation of this 40MW wind farm means increasing the current installed wind power in the Basque Country by 26%, from 155 MW to 193 MW. Once in operation, it will annually produce 99.679 MWh that will supply 30,000 homes with renewable energy and prevent the emission of 16,300 tCO2 into the atmosphere.

The company created by Iberdrola and the Basque Energy Agency to promote new renewable projects in the Basque Country is making progress in the construction of the Labraza wind farm, located in the Alava municipality of Oion, which will be the first in the Basque Country with citizen investment and a pioneer in environmental technology.

In this way, Aixeindar opens to citizens the possibility of investing through Crowlending, a type of collective collaborative financing that favors investors to obtain a quick return with interests of what is generated in the wind farm. In the first phase, it is aimed at the neighbours of Oion and the Rioja Alavesa.

Thus, the wind farm of Labraza will provide a social benefit that will allow the Alaveses to become investors of the park, forming part of the economic investment of the project and obtaining an attractive profitability while promoting the transition to a more sustainable energy model.

In addition, the citizenship of the Aministrative Boards of Labraza and Barriobusto (Oion) will have a special rate of energy prices, once the renewable infrastructure is in place.

For the implementation of this project, no trucks will be driven or driven through the centre of Labraza. In addition, the most advanced environmental protection technologies will be used. In this sense, the transfer of the blades stands out for what is used the technology called Blade Lifter, a pioneer in Europe, which uses the inclination of the blade to make its transport easier.

Through a hydraulic lift, the blade is raised, reaching an inclination of about 65 degrees, or even turned, to avoid the sail effect of the wind, thus facilitating circulation on narrow roads, with closed curves or even by urban centers. This system of inclination of the blades during transport reduces the environmental impact, avoiding modifications in the route of roads.

The works of the project will have access of materials and equipment from the road from Campezo (Álava) to Genevilla, accessing through the roads of the wind farm existing in Aguilar de Codés (Navarra).

The Labraza wind farm will become the first to be launched in the Basque Country since 2006 and will do so with an investment of 59 million euros, in an operation that represents a boost for the supply chain of the Basque wind industry, a sector in which the Basque Country is a leader in the market.

The works have been awarded to the Navarre firm ECAY, the wind turbines to Siemens Gamesa and the extension of the evacuation substation to the EDS engineering, both Basque firms; the project does not require an evacuation line since an existing one is used that connects to the electricity network (REE) in Laguardia.

The installation of this 40MW wind farm means increasing the current installed wind power in the Basque Country by 26%, from 155 MW to 193 MW. Once in operation, it will annually produce 99.679 MWh that will supply 30,000 homes with renewable energy and prevent the emission of 16,300 tCO2 into the atmosphere.

This project, with 40 MW of power, thus becomes the first wind installation that will generate 100% green energy that will be launched in the Basque Country since 2006. Located in Álava, in the Administrative Boards of Labraza and Barriobusto (Oion), it will add to the wind capacity currently installed in the Basque Country. Iberdrola distributes 143 MW of the 153 MW total in the Basque Country in its four wind farms in the Basque Country: Oiz, Elgea, Urkilla and Badaia.

The Labraza wind farm provides for the creation of up to 90 jobs, mainly local, during the construction phase, and goes further in the positive impact and benefits for the municipalities, for their neighbors and neighbors and for companies that are close to the renewable infrastructure.

The installation of the wind farm will mean an initial income for the municipal coffers of around 1.2 million euros with the start of the works and a recurrent income of around 230,000 euros per year in taxes and royalties.

The Labraza wind farm takes into account different and innovative measures of protection of avifauna and biodiversity such as:

• Installation of sensitive avifauna detection devices and wind turbine shutdown.
• Landscape restoration and environmental integration of a slope by installing a “vertical garden”.
• Landscape integration, through natural aging treatment of the rock.
• Plant restoration with recovery of Habitats of Community Interest.

Public-private partnership for energy transition and climate change

The development of this facility represents one of the first actions of the company constituted by Iberdrola and the Basque Energy Agency (EVE) to promote new renewable projects in the Basque Country. It is an example of public-private collaboration and highlights the commitment of both partners in the energy transition and renewable energies.

This project is aligned with the objectives, among others, of the Energy Strategy of the Basque Country 2030 and the Energy Transition and Climate Change Law in order to strengthen the commitment to renewables and respond to the commitments established in the Paris Agreement. The Basque Country has among its objectives to triple the power of renewable energy by 2030, going from the 350 megawatts that we have today to 900 MW in 2028.

To achieve these objectives, the Basque Government, through the Basque Energy Agency, will co-invest in renewable parks, both wind and photovoltaic, that meet the following conditions, following the “EVE model”:

• Let there be enough sun or wind.
• That they have the least environmental impact according to the technical criteria.
• That they have electrical evacuation infrastructure or “plug” nearby.
• That the park is economically profitable and viable.