The Gwynt y Môr wind farm, located eight miles offshore in Liverpool Bay, was officially inaugurated by Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales, last week. With an installed capacity of 576 MW, Gwynt y Môr is the world's second largest offshore wind farm. In total, 160 wind turbines will produce enough power to supply some 400,000 residential households with renewable electricity per year. The inauguration of the more than £2billion wind farm is a significant achievement for RWE (60 percent) and its partners in Gwynt y Môr, Stadtwerke München (30 percent) and Siemens (10 percent).
Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales, said: "Gwynt y Môr is a huge achievement and will continue to bring a number of benefits to the North Wales region. Local companies have been among those to benefit during construction and the site will bring high quality employment and opportunities for years to come. With young people receiving training as part of the wind turbine apprenticeship scheme at Grwp Llandrillo Menai and the courses offered at the college's Energy Centre in Llangefni, North Wales is the go-to place for those looking for a workforce skilled in the field of energy."
RWE AG's Chief Executive Officer, Peter Terium, led the celebrations at Gwynt y Môr's Operations & Maintenance base, newly built at the Port of Mostyn.
The wind farm extends over an area of some 80 square kilometres. The 160 Siemens turbines with a capacity of 3.6 MW each and the 160 steel monopile foundations, some weighing up to 700 tonnes, were installed by means of installation vessels at water depths of up to 28 meters. Each turbine rises 150 meters above the mean sea level. In addition RWE and its contractors installed two massive offshore substations each weighing 1,300 tonnes and 134 kilometers of onshore cable installed.
Gwynt y Môr has created significant opportunity for Wales' economy, worth over £90million to Welsh firms during construction, and will continue to do so throughout its operational life.
