A joint venture has been formed by RWE Innogy, Stadtwerke München and Siemens to build the Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm 18km off the North Wales coast. RWE Innogy will hold a 60% stake in this joint venture, with Stadtwerke München holding 30% and Siemens the remaining 10%.
The total investment, which will be divided between the partners, amounts to more than EUR 2 billion, including the grid connection to the coast. Gwynt y Môr is to be built with an installed capacity of 576MW in Liverpool Bay off the North Wales coast. Work will start towards the end of 2011 to erect the first foundations for a total of 160 wind turbines.
All permits for the wind farm, covering an area of 79km2, have already been obtained. In its first phase of expansion, the wind farm is planned to generate electricity as early as 2013. The project is expected to be completed in 2014. From then onwards it is forecast to generate around 1950 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, which is claimed to be enough to supply 400,000 households.
