Enercity breaks ground on 45-MW wind project in Germany

January 17 (Renewables Now) - German energy supplier Enercity AG has begun the construction of a 45-MW wind park in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia which is expected to start feeding power into the grid in the autumn of this year.

The Stemwede wind farm will be located in the Minden-Luebbecke district east of the city of Osnabrueck and will feature ten Nordex N-149 turbines each with a capacity of 4.5 MW, Enercity said on Monday.

Once operational, the facility should generate some 96,000 MWh of clean power annually, which corresponds to the annual consumption of more than 38,000 households. It will offset 38,400 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, which is comparable to the emissions of around 46,000 cars.

The Hanover-based company will invest about EUR 70 million (USD 75.9m) in the project.

Earlier in January, Enercity completed the acquisition of a 365-MW portfolio of wind farms in operation located in the states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Now, it has a total wind generation capacity of 712 MW.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.084)