Turbine bases completed at England and Wales’ largest onshore wind farm18th Dec 2015

Turbine bases completed at England and Wales’ largest onshore wind farm

Jones Bros’ work to construct the turbine bases at England and Wales’ largest wind farm has been completed.

Engineering work for Vattenfall, the European energy company, by the Jones Bros Balfour Beatty joint venture is now entering the final phase, with all turbine foundations and onsite access tracks complete.

Wind turbine supplier Siemens has also commenced delivery of the first turbine components, via Swansea Docks.

Project Manager for the joint venture Eryl Roberts said: “Completing the 76 turbine bases has been a challenging process, and we’re all now looking forward to seeing the turbine construction phase begin.

“The site has a variety of different ground conditions which demanded a lot of planning and preparation before the bases could be constructed, and weather conditions have also been difficult to work with for some time now.

“All of the joint venture team has worked extremely hard to reach this stage of the project on schedule, and I want to thank them for their efforts to date.

“Pen y Cymoedd has given our trainees and apprentices valuable on-site experience, and provided valuable employment opportunities in the local area.”

Will Wason, Vattenfall’s Project Director for the Pen y Cymoedd Wind Energy Project, said: “We have been constructing the onsite civil and electrical infrastructure at Pen y Cymoedd for almost two years now.

“It has been a superhuman effort by all of our contractors, and as the last of the foundations are poured, and we start commissioning our substations, we very much look forward to 2016 with the erection of the first wind turbines, and a push towards energisation of the site.”

“And perhaps most excitingly, towards the end of 2016 we hope to generate first power from Wales’ largest onshore wind farm and start making a serious contribution to the UK’s climate change targets.”

Figures from the Swedish state-owned developer reveals that well over 600 workers from 60 Welsh companies have helped build the 228MW wind farm so far.

Construction at Pen y Cymoedd started in February last year, and includes the construction of 80km of site tracks and 90km of cable, completing electrical connections and pouring around 50,000 cubic metres of concrete to construct the turbine foundations.