RWE, Siemens, Stadtwerke to build Eruope’s largest offshore windfarm in Wales

Three German companies, European wind power firm RWE Innogy, Germanyy's largest municipal untility Stadtwerke München and divewrsified German industrial group Siemens have entered into a joint venture to build one of the world's largest offshore windfarms off the coast of Wales at a cost of more than 2 billion euros.

The planned Gwynt y Mor windfarm, which means sea wind in Welsh, will have 160 wind turbines stretching for 10 miles off the north Wales coast near Colwyn Bay and Llandudno, and have an installed capacity of 576 MW.

In its first phase of expansion, the wind farm is planned to generate electricity as early as 2013 and the project is expected to be completed in 2014.

The Gwynt y Mor windfarm will become one of the largest offshore windfarm projects in Europe, and is expected to generate around 1,950 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, enough to supply around 400,000 British households.

Siemens will supply, erect and maintain 160 wind power installations each with a capacity of 3.6 megawatts and will connect the wind turbines to the grid. Siemens will also be responsible for maintenance of the wind farm for five years, with the option of an extension for a further seven years.

The value of the contract for Siemens is around 1.2 billion euros.