Pen y Cymoedd


Pen y Cymoedd is a wind farm located between Neath and Aberdare in south Wales. It opened in 2017.

History

Development

signed a lease agreement with Vattenfall of Sweden and its British-based subsidiary Vattenfall United Kingdom, to develop what will be the United Kingdom's highest altitude wind farm, on a site owned by Natural Resources Wales, previously the Forestry Commission Wales. The project has seen the installation of 76 turbines with a peak power of 228 MWp, that are planned to operate for 25 years, and to generate up to 0.6 TWh/yr, an amount enough to power up to 140 000 homes with an annual consumption of 4 266 kWh. The turbine manufacturer is Siemens Wind Power.
During the planning process, Vattenfall agreed to contribute about £1.85m annually to a community fund and to invest £3m in a habitat restoration scheme, and the following parties contributed to the debate:
The project gained final planning permission in May 2012.

Construction and opening

The first turbine was fully completed in April 2016 and began generating electricity in autumn 2016. The final turbine was installed on 2 March 2017, and the farm has been fully operational since 7 May 2017. The farm was officially opened in September 2017.