Success for RWE Innogy’s Mynydd y Gwair Wind Farm in first ever Contracts For Difference auction

The quality of RWE Innogy UK’s Mynydd y Gwair Wind Farm has today been recognised by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in the first ever auction for Contracts For Difference (CfDs).

The 48MW wind farm is one of three RWE Innogy onshore wind projects to be given a vote of confidence by successfully competing for, and winning Government financial support in the form of CfDs. The other successful projects are Clocaenog Forest, in North Wales and Bad á Cheò in Scotland.

CfDs support and encourage competition between different forms of energy generation. They replace the Renewable Obligation support regime and are designed to give investors the confidence and certainty they need to invest in low carbon electricity generation. CfDs also reduce costs to consumers by capping the price that consumers pay for low carbon electricity.

Success in this first ever auction is recognition that Mynydd y Gwair is a competitive, low carbon project, and represents excellent value for money, says RWE. RWE’s Mynydd y Gwair Project Manager Gwenllian Elias said: “This is another step towards achieving our goal of starting construction later this year. It is good for investor confidence. We are absolutely committed to delivering this project and the environmental and economic benefits that come with it. The only significant remaining hurdle is achieving commons consent following the public inquiry which finished late last year. Hopefully, a decision on this will be made soon so that we can get to work and start building Swansea’s first wind farm”.

She added: “Mynydd y Gwair is a great site for a wind farm - it is very windy and will make a significant contribution towards Wales’ green energy aspirations. In addition, we also expect it to offer over £9million of opportunities for local businesses and around 100 construction jobs and a community investment fund worth up to £240,000 a year to local communities over the life of the project”.

Mynydd y Gwair is a 16 turbine scheme, with an installed capacity of 48MW, able to make an important contribution to achieving the Welsh Government target of 2000MW of installed onshore wind capacity by 2025. Building the £52million wind farm would also be good news for the local supply chain, with RWE already looking to work even more closely with local business groups to ensure local businesses benefit from the opportunities that will follow.

RWE is a highly experienced developer and operator of onshore wind farms in Wales. It operates a fleet of seven onshore schemes in Wales, accounting for over 120MW of wind energy, including Ffynnon Oer and Taff Ely in South Wales, and, through its parent company, is Wales biggest inward investor.

Jeremy Smith, Welsh development Manager added: “Onshore wind is a proven and essential part of the UK’s diverse energy mix and continues to increase its contribution to UK energy supply. There is also widespread public support with 70% of people supporting onshore wind, which is one of the cheapest and most effective forms of renewable electricity generation. I’m excited about the growing contribution clean onshore wind energy is making, as RWE looks forward to driving further innovation which delivers more from less”.