Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm | |
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Country | Wales |
Location | between Neath and Aberdare in south Wales. |
Coordinates | 51°42′40″N3°33′43″W / 51.711°N 3.562°W |
Status | Operational |
Commission date |
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Owner(s) | |
Operator(s) | |
Wind farm | |
Hub height | 89.5 m [1] |
Rotor diameter |
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Power generation | |
Units operational | 76 × 3 MW |
Make and model | Siemens Gamesa SWT-3.0-108 (28) Siemens Gamesa SWT-3.0-113 (48) |
Nameplate capacity |
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Capacity factor | 30% [2] |
Annual net output | 0.6 TWh |
External links | |
Website | group |
Pen y Cymoedd ("Head of the Valleys") is a wind farm located between Neath and Aberdare in south Wales. It opened in 2017.
Natural Resources Wales signed a lease agreement with Vattenfall of Sweden and its British-based subsidiary Vattenfall United Kingdom (formerly Nuon Renewables), to develop what will be the United Kingdom's highest altitude wind farm, on a site owned by Natural Resources Wales, previously the Forestry Commission Wales. [3] The project has seen the installation of 76 turbines with a peak power of 228 MWp, that are planned to operate for 25 years, and to generate up to 0.6 TWh/yr, an amount enough to power up to 140 000 homes with an annual consumption of 4 266 kWh. [4] The turbine manufacturer is Siemens Wind Power.
During the planning process, Vattenfall (at that time: Nuon) agreed to contribute about £1.85m annually to a community fund and to invest £3m in a habitat restoration scheme, and the following parties contributed to the debate: [5]
The project gained final planning permission in May 2012. [6]
The first turbine was fully completed in April 2016 [7] and began generating electricity in autumn 2016. The final (76th) turbine was installed on 2 March 2017, and the farm has been fully operational since 7 May 2017. [8] The farm was officially opened in September 2017. [9]
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