August 22, 2007
Wales
Wales
A power company has reduced the size of a wind farm it hopes to build off Wirral’s coast in a bid to reduce its visual impact.
A revised layout for the proposed Gwynt y Mor wind farm has been submitted to the Government by the project developer Npower Renewables
The amended plan would see the area in which the turbine would be built reduced by 16%.
Last night, Npower said that would mean a “significant reduction in the visual impact”.
The proposed site is 11 miles from Wirral and between eight and nine miles off the North Wales coast.
In November 2005, the company submitted applications for permission to build and operate the offshore sections of Gwynt y Môr.
The latest information submitted as part of the application include a number of new studies and surveys have been undertaken to answer questions relating to the physical, biological and human environments.
The DTI are overseeing the application and the company hopes to have a reply by the end of the year.
Dr Mark Legerton, offshore development manager at Npower Renewables, said, “We appreciate that the visual impact of the wind farm is a concern for some.
“As such we have taken steps to reduce this significantly by making the area in which the turbines will be built 16% smaller than was originally proposed.”
Gwynt y Môr would comprise around 200 turbines, harnessing the energy in the wind and turning it into electricity.
The wind farm would have an electrical output of 750 megawatts which would produce enough power every year for around 500,000 homes, the equivalent to 40% of homes in Wales.
Each year, Gwynt y Môr would prevent the release of approximately two million tonnes of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas contributing to global warming and climate change.
The amended design will also mean there is less impact on shipping lanes and helicopter routes to the nearby Douglas oil and gas platform.
If permission is granted for the wind farm, it is expected that construction would start in 2010.
By David Bartlett
20 August 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/08/22/firm-bids-to-reduce-size-of-offshore-wind-farm/