14 DAY TRIAL // E.ON France has recently opened a new onshore wind farm on the “Kergrist Moëlou – Plounevez Quintin” site in the Côtes-d’Armor. The company’s sixth such project has increased its installed renewable power capacity in France to 83.5 MW.
The onshore wind farm has 13 wind turbines and an installed capacity of 26 MW. It is reportedly the largest project installed in Brittany, to date.
It will provide enough power for 20,000 homes, while reducing CO2 emissions by 47,000 tons each year.
The project, in which E.ON has invested some EUR42 million (about $56.5 million), was completed in just 13 months. It is part of a series of projects launched by E.ON to increase its renewable capacity in France. E.ON’s portfolio includes wind power, biomass production and hydro power.
By 2015 E.ON France aims to switch from almost exclusively coal-fired power generation to mainly other efficient energy sources (gas, renewable energy sources and biomass).
In 2010, E.ON invested more than €1 billion in renewables and expanded its wind and solar capacity by 600 MW to over 3,600 MW. E.ON plans to invest €2.6 billion more for the period 2011-2013.
E.ON is expanding both its wind and solar capacity in Europe, where its biggest projects are two offshore wind farms.
The first, London Array—which it is building with partners DONG Energy and Masdar—is already under construction and will have 1,000 MW of capacity, making it the world’s largest wind farm when fully completed.
The second, Amrumbank West, is in planning and will have around 300 MW of capacity. It will be E.ON’s second far shore, deepwater wind farm in German waters after alpha ventus. E.ON is developing three other offshore wind projects in the German North Sea and Baltic Sea with a total capacity of more than 1,000 MW.