96 MW Clocaenog Forest wind farm in UK generates first power

innogy Renewable UK’s largest onshore wind farm, Clocaenog Forest has started generating renewable energy for the first time. The 96 MW wind farm is located near Denbigh within the working forest, managed by Natural Resources Wales. It is expected to produce enough renewable energy to power the equivalent needs of 63,800 average UK homes per year, once fully operational at the end of the year.

Construction of the wind farm started in April 2018, with a contract worth in excess of GBP20 million (US$25 million) placed with leading Civil Engineering firm Jones Bros. The first of the 27 Vestas turbines was successfully erected in April 2019.

Once fully operational, the associated community funding worth a total of GBP19 million (US$23.6 million) over the operating lifetime will become available to applicants. This flexible funding has the potential to significantly benefit communities both very local to the project and more widely across North Wales. Currently the process is underway to put in place an organisation to administer the fund, with an announcement set to be made in the Autumn.