Construction works at SSE’s Glenconway Wind Farm near Limavady, County Derry~Londonderry are nearing completion following the erection of the 20th turbine at the 46MW site.
In total, 15 of the 2.3MW Siemens turbines are now energised, with ten already exporting energy to the national grid. The 20 turbine Glenconway site will form part of SSE’s 73MW Slieve Kirk cluster, the largest wind farm development in Northern Ireland.
Since entering construction in May 2012, SSE has invested over £7.5 million into the local economy through its Glenconway project, including contracts with a number of local suppliers and sub-contractors.
Almost 100 companies have been either directly or indirectly involved with the construction of Glenconway, 36 of which were located within 20 miles of the wind farm, with a further 22 companies located less than 35 miles from the site.
Glenconway Project Manager, Kevin McKernan commented: “To date, Glenconway is SSE’s largest construction project in Northern Ireland, and it demonstrates our ongoing commitment to maximising the economic and environmental potential of wind energy in the region. We expect the 46MW site to achieve its first full export sometime in late August, with the handover to our Operations Team due to take place no later than October.”
The opening of Glenconway will reinforce SSE’s leadership position as Northern Ireland’s largest renewable energy generator with 87MW of green energy in operation. SSE is also the largest single wind energy generator on the island with almost 500MW in operation.