E.ON To Build U.K.'s Largest Offshore Wind Farm

At the beginning of next year, construction of Robin Rigg, the U.K.'s largest offshore wind farm with an aggregate capacity of 180 megawatts, will start. E.ON UK plans to build 60 three-megawatt turbines to be sited off the coast of Scotland. Robin Rigg is expected to enter service in early 2009 and will produce approximately 550 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to meet the average annual electricity needs of approximately 150,000 homes. Compared with conventional generation, the wind farm will prevent about 230,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Investments in the project will total about €500 million.

In the United Kingdom, E.ON currently operates Scroby Sands, a 60 megawatt offshore wind farm which entered service in 2004. In Germany and Denmark, E.ON is involved in a number of pilot projects for offshore wind farms. Here, however, substantial development work remains to be done because such facilities have to be sited further offshore at greater water depths.

E.ON CEO Wulf Bernotat said: "A secure, economical, and environmentally friendly energy supply is of decisive importance for us. With Robin Rigg we're making an important contribution to reducing carbon-dioxide emissions. The project is also in line with our strategy to further increase the share of the E.ON Group's total generation-currently at about 11 percent-that comes from renewable sources."

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Posted 07/12/06

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