CleanBeta

Construction Begins on Europe’s Largest Wind Farm

Continental Wind Partners, a major renewable power developer, and CEZ Group, the leading CE power utility, finalized the sale of two massive wind farms in Romania today — Fantanele and Cogealac wind farms. CEZ purchased the two projects, which will together be the largest onshore wind farm in Europe with a total capacity of 600 megawatts. The projects will be nearly twice the size of the next largest fully permitted onshore wind farm in Europe, and triple the size of the largest current operational wind farm in Europe. The total investment of the CEZ Group into the project will reach €1.1 billion.

Construction will start in September and the turbines will be erected from April 2009 to June 2010 and become operational in stages as they are installed. By the end of 2009, 345 megawatts will be producing power, with the remaining turbines being commissioned the following year.

Fantanele and Cogealac are situated in the Dobrogea province, north of Constanta, about 17 kilometres from the Black Sea. The project will become operational in stages. The first stage of 347.5 MW will comprise 139 GE 2.5xl turbines with a 100 meter hub height and 99 meter rotor diameters and a 2.5 megawatt capacity and will be operational by end of 2009. The second stage of 252.5 MW will be operational by end 2010. The construction will begin next month. Wind speeds are excellent, and the project is carefully situated to minimize environmental impact. The windfarm will represent almost 30% of the renewable market in Romania (including large hydro) when it becomes fully operational. It is the first significant wind project to be realized in Romania, which today has only 7 MW of operational wind energy production.

The project was originally developed by CWP for Good Energies, a leading investor in renewable energy who procured the turbines, and Good Energies is supporting the partnership with CEZ in view of CEZ’s strong strategic interest in the region and ability to market the power produced by the windfarm beyond the duration of the current Romanian tariff support for wind energy.

CWP will manage the construction of the windfarm, which will be built by major international construction firms. All related technical components of the project (transformers, cables, etc) are secured and will arrive on site in time to commence operations according to schedule. Mark Crandall, Chairman and founder of CWP said “CWP has been very excited about the potential of the Romanian market since it began development here more than two years ago, and we are very pleased to have found a partner in CEZ which shares our enthusiasm and excitement about this extraordinary project and this extraordinary country – nothing could give the management and shareholders of CWP more pleasure than seeing this ground-breaking project be completed and seeing it transform the Romanian market for renewable energy.”