German utility STAWAG to add 190 MW of wind in North Rhine-Westphalia

Germany's Stadtwerke Aachen AG (STAWAG) seeks to deploy about 190 MW of wind energy in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in the next few years as the municipal utility aims to double the annual production from its own green power plants by 2030.

The new capacity is expected to generate an additional 475 million kWh of green electricity every year, said STAWAG Energie's managing director Frank Broesse.

The growth plans are based on the company's well-filled project pipeline of 400 MW.

One of the current projects for the energy company is the 23.1-MW Simmerath-Lammersdorf wind park near the city of Aachen which will be expanded to add 11.2 MW in capacity. The preparatory work for the expansion is set to begin at the end of October.

Two Vestas turbines will be installed at the wind farm to produce an additional 26 million kWh of clean power annually. Commissioning of the new machines is scheduled for the end of next year.

STAWAG is investing around EUR 17 million (USD 16.76m) in the project.

Once the new turbines are up and running, the municipality of Simmerath will produce more than twice as much renewable electricity as it consumes and will be thus exporting large quantities of it, said Simmerath's mayor Bernd Goffart.

STAWAG already has 20 wind farms and 12 solar parks which feed a total of 550 million kWh of green electricity to the grid each year. Most recently, the utility put an 18.4-MW wind park in Schleswig-Holstein into operation.

(EUR 1 = USD 0.986)

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