UNELCO is developing the production of electricity from renewable sources with local resources.
UNELCO owns a wind farm consisting of 12 GEV MP VERGNET model wind turbines of 275 kW each and one XANT wind turbine (100 kW) for a total installed capacity of 3.4 MW. The wind farm located in Kawéné (La pointe du diable) is directly connected to UNELCO's power station in Tagabe.
Wind energy has the advantage of being unlimited, clean and economically promising. It is an inexhaustible resource (wind is indeed an inexhaustible resource), locally available, variable, but predictable (winds are generally more frequent and strong in winter when the demand for electricity is higher).
Wind energy transforms the energy of moving air masses into mechanical energy (rotation of the blades of a propeller) and then into electrical energy (alternator driven by a propeller).
This energy does not emit greenhouse gases or toxic residues and thus meets the Group's objectives in terms of the development of renewable energies.
As wind power is highly variable, the operator of the electrical network often tends to restrict its wind turbines so as not to disturb the network. UNELCO is free from this phenomenon thanks to the installation of automatic systems associated with generators that instantly compensate for even large variations in the power delivered by the wind turbines. The penetration rate (i.e. the proportion of wind power in relation to total production) is thus 40% for 24 hours, and up to 70% at peak times.