RES Celebrates Global Wind Day

Thursday, Jun 18, 2009

RES¹ celebrated Global Wind Day on 15 June in style and gave visitors the chance to experience the power of the wind, with three of its operating regions opening up wind farms to the general public.  The weekend saw RES welcoming over 400 visitors spread across Scotland, France and Sweden, with plans for another day of activities in England on the 20^th.  Worldwide, Global Wind Day 2009 was a huge success with over 200 events across 35 countries.

On Saturday 13 June RES opened Forss Wind Farm, the most northerly wind farm on the UK mainland, to celebrate the breadth and diversity of renewable energy in Scotland.  Over 200 visitors enjoyed finding out what happens at the former US Navy Communications Base, near Thurso, that is now home to 6 wind turbines.  A fun-packed day of activities, including children painting hand-prints on a turbine tower, also demonstrated the popularity of wind power as a clean, sustainable and secure source of energy that creates jobs and boosts local economies.

EOLE-RES, the French subsidiary of the RES Group, opened its Pays de St Seine wind farm on Sunday 14 and Monday 15 June.  Over 120 visitors had the opportunity to see the newly constructed 25 turbine site near St Seine l’Abbaye, which recently took the RES Group to over 4,000MW of installed capacity built worldwide when it was officially opened last month. Electric bikes were available and visitors had great fun using them to tour the site.

Nordisk Vindkraft, the Nordic arm of the RES Group, provided a tour on Monday 15 June of its Havsnäs Wind Farm in Strömsund, which is currently under construction. At 94.5 MW, Havsnäs is the largest onshore wind farm in Sweden and when construction is completed in 2010 it will provide enough clean green electricity for approximately 45,000 Swedish households.  Nordisk Vindkraft will be offering study tours of the construction site every Friday from 17 July to the end of August.

Anna Stanford of RES said:

“RES hopes Global Wind Day has demonstrated that wind power is working, has public support and is able to deliver secure and reliable power with the much needed carbon reductions the world requires. In the run up to the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit it is important to celebrate how far the industry has come worldwide, and show world leaders that government action is required to maintain momentum in the development of wind energy in order to maximise the economic benefits and cut carbon emissions to secure our energy supplies and climate.”

Global Wind Day celebrations are continuing on Saturday 20 June² in conjunction with UK Wind Week at the RES Group’s head office, Beaufort Court. Visitors will get the chance to visit a world first in eco-friendly office design and see renewable energy generation in action, including the famous M25 wind turbine. 

Source: RES Group