United Kingdom – Julie James MS, the Welsh Government’s Minister for Climate Change, officially opened RWE’s Clocaenog Forest onshore wind farm in North Wales.
The 96MW Clocaenog Forest Wind Farm, which is situated on the Welsh Ministers’ woodland estate on territory overseen by Natural Resources Wales, is the largest onshore wind farm in RWE’s UK fleet. Despite the fact that the wind farm has been operational for more than a year, COVID restrictions have prevented RWE from marking the accomplishment.
The wind farm, which is close to Denbigh, was built over the course of about 18 months in 2020 and has 27 turbines that can produce enough renewable electricity to power 63,800 UK homes. Jones Brothers Civil Engineering UK served as the project’s primary contractor. With its headquarters located less than 10 miles from the project site, the company was in a good position to find regional suppliers. The £20 million local contract employed 60 people, including 14 apprentices and trainee engineers.
The RWE’s Clocaenog Forest Wind Farm started distributing a £768,000 yearly community investment fund to the neighborhood after it was finished in 2020.
Relying on UK
On behalf of the nearby communities in Conwy and Denbighshire, Community and Voluntary Support Conwy (CVSC) independently manages and administers the fund. The Clocaenog Forest Wind Farm Fund has so far allocated £1.181 million to 96 grants, generating more than 24 new jobs and preserving 62 more.
The impressive UK portfolio of over 4,800MW (2,790MW RWE pro rata share) of renewable generation capacity from offshore wind, onshore wind, biomass, and hydro now includes 27 turbines at the Clocaenog Forest Wind Farm. RWE’s strategy to expand its renewables business and achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 heavily relies on the UK. The development of Awel y Môr (the Gwynt y Môr extension) will expand RWE’s Welsh portfolio. The company is also in the very early stages of developing proposals for about 300MW of onshore wind capacity. RWE is also Wales’ largest renewable generator.
