Spanish Wind Turbine Maker Bornay Delivers €2 Million Hybrid Electrification Project to 48 Isolated Venezuelan Communities

Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Bornay Aerogeneradores completed delivery of equipment for 48 hybrid electrification systems serving isolated Venezuelan communities under a €2 million contract finalized in late 2009 and shipped during January and February of the following year. The installations target settlements of 10 to 40 households without conventional grid access, deploying architectures that combine solar photovoltaic generation, wind turbines, battery storage and diesel gensets as emergency backup.

The microgrid design centers on SMA’s Sunny Island inverters fed by 48-volt DC battery banks. These inverters establish centralized AC microgrids distributing electricity to homes, with wind and solar generation connected in parallel to consumption loads via grid-tie inverters. System logic prioritizes direct renewable production use, diverting excess generation to battery charging or dump loads when supply exceeds demand. Sunny Island equipment controls microgrid stability and manages source dispatch, automatically activating diesel gensets when renewable output proves insufficient and battery state of charge cannot meet demand.

Configuration scales by community size. Systems serving 10 homes incorporate 3,000 Wp solar capacity connected to one SB3300 inverter, a Bornay 3000 wind turbine with 6 kW Aurora inverter, 10 kVA diesel generator, two SI5048 inverters totaling 10 kW output, and a 48V 800 Ah C10 battery bank. Twenty-household systems increase solar to 5,400 Wp across two SB3300 inverters, deploy a Bornay 6000 turbine with 9.9 kW Aurora inverter, 15 kVA diesel backup, two SI5048 units at 10 kW combined, and two 48V 800 Ah C10 battery banks.

Thirty-home installations field 8,400 Wp solar with three SB3300 inverters, one Bornay 6000 with 9.9 kW Aurora inverter plus one Bornay 3000 with 6 kW Aurora, 20 kVA diesel, three SI5048 inverters delivering 15 kW, and two 48V 1,200 Ah C10 battery banks. Forty-household configurations reach 10,800 Wp solar across four SB3300 inverters, two Bornay 6000 turbines, 25 kVA diesel, six SI5048 inverters providing 30 kW in parallel operation, and four 48V 800 Ah C10 battery banks.

Total equipment procurement included 155 SI5048 inverters, 126 SB3300 inverters, 24 Bornay 3000 wind turbines and 72 Bornay 6000 units plus installation components and accessories. The contract value of approximately $2.3 million translates to roughly $48,000 per system, establishing a cost baseline for hybrid off-grid solutions in the 10-to-40 household segment across geographies with comparable wind and solar resources.