News
Drumduff wind farm wins Sustainable Development award
Our iconic Drumduff wind farm near Edinburgh, built on the site of a former open cast coalmine, has won an award for Sustainable Development.
Posted: 03 Dec 2018
Wern Ddu wind farm
Project location
Our four-turbine site in North Wales is built between Gwyddelwern and Ruthin – one of seven strategic areas identified by the Welsh Assembly Government as being suited to this kind of development.
Project summary
The Enercon E70 turbines installed for this project are "direct drive" machines which means there is no gearbox between the blades and the generator. This means there is one less component which needs maintaining and one less component which could go wrong. To make this possible, the generator itself has a slightly larger size from other models which is reflected in the design of the nacelle, the box at the top of the tower.
The project contributes up to £9,000 every year to fund local initiatives. Over the years these have included improvements to make community buildings more accessible, children’s playground equipment, youth sports team kits, maintenance of a mobile kitchen facility and installation of potentially life-saving defibrillators in remote locations. That’s on top of generating enough renewable electricity for over 5,800 homes each year.
Check out the Wern Ddu wind farm gallery
Key stats
| Turbines | Enercon E70 |
|---|---|
| Number of turbines | 4 |
| Maximum tip height | 92.5 |
| Site capacity | 9.2 MW |
| Operational since | 2009 |
| Annual forecast output | 23.4 GWh |
| UK homes equivalent | 5,858 |
