Wind News

Tuesday 14 July 2009

(l-r) RWE Innogy’s chief finance officer Dr Hans Bunting and chief operating officer Kevin McCullough look on as Ed Miliband formally opens Little Cheyne Court wind farm

Energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband has welcomed the opening of South East England's largest onshore wind farm ahead of the publication of the government's Renewable Energy Strategy tomorrow (July 15).

Mr Miliband was in Kent yesterday (July 13) to formally launch the 59MW Little Cheyne Court site near Romney Marsh, which has been developed by npower.

The 26-turbine wind farm first began exporting electricity to the National Grid in November 2008, but is yet to complete final tests. All major work on site has been finished and the 2.3MW turbines are currently undergoing final operational testing before the wind farm goes fully on stream.

Mr Miliband said: "Little Cheyne Court shows us that the UK's transition to low carbon is well under way. I'm impressed with the scale of this wind farm, one of England's largest, and it's great to know that another 33,000 homes are now powered by clean green, energy.

"The expansion of wind energy, alongside other renewables, new nuclear power and clean coal, is vital for the UK's low carbon energy mix, and brings with it massive opportunity in terms of jobs and economic growth," he added.

Tomorrow the government will publish the Renewable Energy Strategy, which will lay out how the state plans to meet its target to produce 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

At the same time the Department of Energy and Climate Change will also publish the Low Carbon Transition Plan, which will detail the government's plan to decarbonise the UK and maximise the economic benefits of low carbon industries, including wind energy.

Landmark

Commenting on the opening, Kevin McCullough, chief operating officer at RWE Innogy, npower's parent company, said: "This is a landmark renewable energy project for the South East of England and shows the region is playing an important part in the global battle against climate change."

He added: "Little Cheyne Court will prevent the release of thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide every year while also contributing to the UK's energy security. A great deal of hard work has gone into this project since we first announced our plans to build a wind farm here in 2002 and I am delighted Little Cheyne Court is now generating electricity."

The wind farm will generate enough clean electricity to meet the average annual needs of some 33,300 homes - equivalent to about three quarters of the homes in the Shepway district council area.

The opening of the wind farm was attended by local and national stakeholders, RWE npower renewables staff and contractors who had worked on site.