Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA this month began building a wind energy park in the northwestern peninsula of Paraguaná, with 76 turbines that in two years will provide 100 megawatt/hour to the region, an area of oil refineries, shopping centers and tourism. The project, the first of its kind in this country, has a price tag of 180 million dollars. The materials will be imported from Spain.

Environmentalist and professor Joel Sangronis told Tierramérica that the project “will benefit from the winds blowing northeast-to-southwest at 25 to 30 kilometers per hour.”

“Each wind turbine will be able to produce in one day the same amount of energy as 3.5 tons of coal or one ton of petroleum, preventing emissions of 4,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide, 66 tons of sulfur dioxide and 10 tons of nitric acid,” he said.