UK: Watford Lodge wind farm commences operation

The wind farm site, located near the village of Watford in Northamptonshire, comprises of five turbines and has a combined installed capacity of 10.25MW. It will provide clean, sustainable electricity for approximately 5,925 households every year and lead to the displacement of approximately 8,533 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

The importance of renewables in our energy mix is highlighted by the fact that the National Grid has reported to have procured additional balancing services of up to 2.43GW for this winter. According to their latest Winter Outlook report 2015/2016, they assess that demand will outweigh supply over the winter period and there is an increased likelihood that they will have to deploy contingency measures to keep the lights on. The measures include paying large energy users to voluntarily switch off during winter weekday evenings between 4 and 8pm and switching on power stations that would otherwise be closed or mothballed.  Watford Lodge wind farm, along with other low-carbon generators, will help plug this increasing energy gap and help provide secure affordable energy supplies to UK homes.