Vattenfall Opens Largest Onshore Windfarm

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Swedish energy company, Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden), has opened its largest onshore windfarm in the Netherlands.

Located in the centre of the country, the Zuidlob windfarm boasts 36 turbines with a combined generating capacity of 122-megawatts (MW). Zuidlob, which will now be known as Princess Alexia Windfarm, is capable of generating enough power for approximately 88,000 homes. It uses 3.4M104 type turbines from REpower Systems AG (ETR:RPW) (Hamburg, Germany, each with a rated generating capacity of 3.4MW.

The project is notable for its rapid construction, which only kicked off at the end of 2011. After just four months, its first turbine was connected to the grid.

"I'm pleased for several reasons," stated Peter Smink, Head of Sustainable Energy Projects at Vattenfall. "Zuidlob was completed in only 17 months, on time and in budget, which helps fulfil Vattenfall's ambitions in the area of renewable energy and its financial targets."

Located west of Zeewolde in central Netherlands, the project cost around €153 million ($203.5 million), and forms part of Vattenfall's plan to invest €2.8 billion ($3.7 billion) in wind-related projects between 2011 and 2015. Vattenfall took control of the project in 2011 when it acquired full ownership of the windfarm, Zuidlob Wind B.V, through its Dutch subsidiary Nuon Energy (Amsterdam, Netherlands), which it acquired in 2009 for €10.3 billion ($14.5 billion).

Vattenfall claimed that its 24 onshore windfarms in the Netherlands, which comprise 234 turbines, provide an annual 0.8 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity which is enough for 200,000 households. The amount makes up around 15% of the Netherlands wind energy total.

Vattenfall is currently restructuring its operations to cut costs and narrow its investment focus. In March, the company announced plans to axe 2,500 jobs by the end of next year, blaming a combination of low electricity demand, an oversupply of CO2-emission allowances, production overcapacity and low electricity market prices. For additional information, see March 13, 2013, article - Vattenfall to Axe 2,500 Jobs.

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