E.ON opens new onshore wind farm in Portugal

Monday, May 17, 2010

E.ON has put another major onshore wind plant into operation in southern Portugal. The Barao Sao Joao wind farm has an installed capacity of 50 MW and cuts CO2 emissions by about 60 tonnes annually.

Frank Mastiaux, CEO of E.ON Climate & Renewables: "With the commissioning of our new wind farm in Portugal we are strengthening further our portfolio of renewable energies in southern Europe. Alongside the United States, the Iberian peninsula is part of our strategic target region for the expansion of onshore wind energy. While we are systematically expanding offshore wind technology in northern Europe, especially in the UK, Denmark and Germany, southern Europe is an ideal terrain for us for the development of onshore technology and for the use of solar energy."

In Spain and Portugal alone, E.ON now operates onshore wind farms with a total capacity of 360 MW. In all, E.ON already has onshore wind plants with a capacity of over 2,756 MW in Europe and the United States. In addition, E.ON is consistently pushing ahead with its offshore activities. In German, UK and Danish waters, plants with a capacity of about 300 MW are already in operation, some of them together with partners, over 400 MW are being constructed and roughly 4,000 MW are at the planning and development stage. E.ON is thus one of the leaders with its experience in the field of offshore wind energy and will by the end of 2010 be the world’s second-largest operator of offshore wind energy plants.

Source: E.ON