Construction has begun on Peru’s first major alternative energy project. A 240MW wind energy farm, to be known as San Andres Wind Park (Parque Eólico San Andrés) is being built by Iberoperuana Inversiones SAC.

IT is hoped that the wind park will be completed within 2 years and Iberoperuana Inversiones plans to be generating 22MW by the end of 2008. The company will be investing $240 million to get the project up and running.

When it is completed it is estimated that the wind park will have the capacity to generate enough electricity to power up to 80,000 homes in Peru’s southern desert region of Paracas.

A spokesman for the company, Antonio Caballo said at a recent ceremony in which the first turbine was highlighted, “the opportunity that we have been given by the government to invest in Peru by the Ministry of Energy and Mines has opened very large doors for investors worldwide.”

Iberoperuana Inversiones has been licensed to pursue a total of 15 alternative energy projects in Peru which promises to ensure that Peru will be one of the leading renewable energy nations in South America.