RWE's Rhyl Flats Windfarm Starts Generating Power

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Rhyl Flats windfarm, located off the north coast of Wales, started generating power this past weekend. Owned by RWE npower renewables (Swindon, United Kingdom), part of German power company RWE Innogy (Essen, Germany), the first of the farm's 25 wind turbines has started exporting power to shore, even as construction continues on the remaining turbines and subsea cables.

Power from the 90-megawatt (MW) windfarm will be transferred over five miles via subsea cables to a substation in the town of Towyn, where the electricity voltage will be converted for transmission to the national electricity grid. The farm will produce enough electricity to power an estimated 61,000 homes.

In the coming months, the 24 other turbines will come online. The windfarm should be fully operational by the fourth quarter this year. The farm will use SWT-107-3.6 wind turbines from Siemens (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany).

"We're the world's number one for offshore wind generation, and with Rhyl Flats plugged in we're adding to the amount of electricity we're generating," said the government's Energy Minister, Lord Hunt. "Offshore wind power will be a big contributor to meeting our target of 15% of renewable energy by 2020, securing a domestic and low-carbon source of electricity, and helping the U.K.'s transition towards a greener, cleaner economy."

Kevin McCullough, Chief Operating Officer for RWE npower renewables' parent company, RWE Innogy, said: "That power will be generated in the next few days is one of the most significant achievements yet in the construction of Rhyl Flats Offshore Wind Farm. We are delighted to reach this milestone, which marks the start of a lifetime of environmental benefits that Rhyl Flats Offshore Wind Farm will deliver through pollution-free energy generation. In addition, the windfarm is bringing benefits to the regional economy through investment in jobs and local services. Local community projects will also benefit from an annual community fund for the life of the windfarm, which will become available when the project is fully operational."

Construction of Rhyl Flats started in July 2007 with the offshore foundation construction and was followed in April 2008 by the creation of the piles. Offshore cabling work began in July 2008, but the project hit construction delays in the latter half of last year. For additional information, see related news item from April 3, 2009 - Construction Restarts on Wales' Rhyl Flats Windfarm.

Rhyl Flats is RWE npower renewables' second U.K. offshore windfarm after the facility in North Hoyle, Wales, a 60-MW facility that started generating power in 2003 and was the U.K's first large offshore windfarm.

IIR's Renewable Energy Database provides extensive coverage on the Wind Energy, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Landfill Gas-to-Energy and Utility-Scale Solar power plants throughout North America, and now expanding coverage across the world.

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