Eólicas de Lanzarote will terminate the contract with Cobra and claim one million euros for "serious deficiencies"

This has been approved by the Board of Directors, which accuses the company in charge of operation and maintenance services at the Los Valles Wind Farm of significant "breaches".

May 31 2022 (15:43 WEST)
Updated in May 31 2022 (15:52 WEST)
The Los Valles wind farm produced 5,435 MWh of renewable energy in the first quarter of the year

The Board of Directors of Eólicas de Lanzarote S.L. has unanimously decided to terminate the contract with the company Cobra, which is in charge of operation and maintenance services at the Los Valles Wind Farm, due to "the serious deficiencies and breaches that have occurred in recent months."

Once notified, the company will have a period to present allegations to this resolution, which was approved last Thursday at a meeting held in the Cabildo. The Board of Eólicas de Lanzarote thus puts an end to a file initiated by the entity at the beginning of this year 2022.

In addition, the approved proposal includes the claim for compensation of more than one million euros for damages, "for the non-provision of services and supplies required in the contract, as well as for the loss of energy production caused by the inactivity of some of the wind turbines."

"We cannot allow the production of renewable energy for Lanzarote and La Graciosa to clash with serious and sustained problems over time, such as the existence of inoperative wind turbines for long periods, as well as other incidents that are occurring in the maintenance of the Los Valles Wind Farm," said the president of the Cabildo, María Dolores Corujo, detailing the outcome of this file.

The contract now resolved by the Board of Directors obliged the awarded company to provide labor, consumables, spare parts, transportation and management, as well as the expenses necessary for the proper functioning of the Wind Farm and the guarantee of availability required; something that they claim "has not happened in the terms established."

 

Some of the breaches

The unanimous agreement to terminate the contract signed on Thursday by the Board of Directors of Eólicas de Lanzarote details the list of obligations considered "essential" that were not met and that should have been assumed by the awarded company for the correct development of the activity.

The list includes, for example, not having executed the clause that speaks of the necessary "compliance with the availability of 95%" in the energy production of the Wind Farm. Another of the essential clauses whose repeated breach argues the termination of the contract is the one that obliges the "replacement of large components before 10 days."

They also emphasize in the resolution agreement the breach of the clause by which it commits to "have a minimum stock as indicated in the PPTP"; among other irregularities produced.

After resolving this contract, the company will now face in the short term the new award of operation and maintenance services of the Los Valles Wind Farm, an installation with a power of 8.5 MW (megawatts) generated by a dozen wind turbines.

The current awarded company has been providing the service since December 2019, after winning the tender for a contract that was expected to last four years. It should be remembered that Eólicas de Lanzarote S.L. is owned by INALSA (Water Consortium) in 60%, and by Enel Green Power España (Endesa) in 40%.

The company closed its profit and loss account last year with a total of 1,411,314.53 euros of profit, before taxes. This represented a substantial increase in business compared to the atypical year of 2020.

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