Europe’s largest onshore wind farm is now up and running. Located in the heart of Dobregea Constanta County in Romania, the 600-megawatt (MW) Fantanele/Cogealac wind farm is being run by CEZ Romania, a branch of the largest Central European utility, the CEZ Group.
Image Credit: Wind Turbine in Romania via tony4urban / Shutterstock
The project is using 240 of General Electric’s 2.5MW wind turbines, with the last turbine coming online in November.
“We chose GE because of its proven technology and the extensive experience of its project teams. The 2.5-megawatt technology offers the efficiency, availability and energy performance that will safeguard our success,” said CEZ project manager Ondřej Šafář in the release.
“Thanks to the Fantanele/Cogealac wind farm, CEZ is making a major contribution to increasing Romania’s renewable energy generation. Before this project, Romania’s installed wind capacity was only 14 megawatts.”
While the wind farm is located in Central Europe, much of the project has a global United Nations feel to it. Brazil, Germany, Denmark, China, Poland, and the Czech Republic made the towers and turbines needed for the wind farm.
What is even more interesting is the large scope of this wind project, requiring stringent planning in transporting all of the equipment:
“Twelve modes of transportation were needed to move all of the components for each wind turbine from the port of Constanta on the Black Sea to the project construction site. At peak times, 25 cranes were in action at once at one of the largest building sites in Europe.”
Stephan Ritter, GE General Manager, reiterated the challenges in getting the equipment into the area and the rewards it has provided: “Detailed planning, clear processes and a lot of dedication ensured that the project was completed on time…. We were able to feed the experience we gained during the construction phase straight back into the project. We are very proud of the outstanding achievement of our project team.”
This recent project only adds to GE’s solid wind energy portfolio. Earlier in 2012, the company declared its group of 2.5MW wind turbines has gone past 2 gigawatts of global installed capacity, providing up to 1.4 million European homes with renewable energy.
Source: GE
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