The 19 turbine wind farm is situated in Mr Moore’s constituency at Longpark, near Galashiels (Scotland), and is capable of generating enough electricity to power 19,000 homes each year. The company calculates that this is equivalent to the power required to make more than 3.5 billion cups of tea per year! The wind farm is EDF Energy Renewables’ biggest project to date in the UK.
“Opening this wind farm is a further step in developing Scotland’s renewable energy infrastructure and a great example of how we are harnessing our natural geography to produce renewable energy. The energy generated here will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around 43,000 tonnes,” said Mr. Moore.
The Secretary of State for Scotland was joined in the celebrations by Christian Egal, Chief Executive Officer of EDF Energy Renewables, who added that “Longpark is good news for EDF Energy Renewables and also for Scotland” and “will contribute to the Scottish Government’s ambitious renewables targets of 80 percent of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2020”.
The project which was given Government approval in July 2006, has been supported by turbine manufacturer REpower who supplied the 19 MM82 turbines, each with a 2.05MW capacity. The total installed capacity of projects operated by EDF Energy Renewables to date stands at 264 MW.
“Investing in renewables is vital for our country and our economy and the coalition government is committed building a ‘zero-waste’ economy, so much so that we made it part of the coalition agreement published in May. It is also a rapidly expanding sector, and we are at the start of a renewable revolution which will open up many career choices for Scots,” concluded Mr. Moore.
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