Northamptonshire’s first wind farm, at Burton Wold, near Kettering, has been connected to the grid with the help of ABB. The company provided a full electrical infrastructure so that Enercon GmbH could connect the site to the local power distribution network operated by Central Networks, an E.ON UK company. The project included making the individual cable links between 10 wind turbines, fitting out the site substation and commissioning the main 33kV cable that now feeds up to 20MW of renewable power into the grid.
Burton Wold wind farm started operation in May 2006. The project was developed by Your Energy Ltd, is owned by Mistral Windfarms, and operated by Your Energy Services Ltd – companies all operating under the Mistral Group. The electricity output is being bought by E.ON UK under a long-term power purchase contract.
The 71m diameter, 2MW turbines were supplied by Enercon GmbH, one of the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturers. ABB has a long standing relationship with Enercon on wind farm projects in mainland Europe.
ABB carried out all the electrical infrastructure works over four months This included installing and connecting the 33kv turbine power cables and fibre optic telemetry systems; supplying and fitting out of the site substation, carrying out all on-site civil works connected with cable-trenching and erection of switchgear and testing and final commissioning. To find out more about Burton Wold wind farm visit www.burtonwoldwindfarm.com