Fruges Wind Farm: Blowing Strong in the North of France
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
WIND ENERGY Fruges wind farm: Blowing strong in the North of France Well distributed: The wind farm project in Fruges (North- ern France) comprises 70 tur- bines erected at 16 individual sites. Photos (4): Martin Frey In the northernmost corner of France, the constant winds Good progress despite supply delays which sweep the countryside from the nearby English Chan- The office is as always a hive of busy activity, because so nel are soon to be exploited to generate electricity in grand far only 39 of the planned 70 turbines are already on grid. Office manager Jean-Marie Van Vooren has his style. The project involves a total of 70 wind turbines with a hands full to organise the further completion of the project. He is presently weathering out a two-and-a- combined output capacity of 140 MW, making it the largest half-month interruption to deliveries – manufacturer wind farm in the country. S&WE visited the project site and Enercon is currently supplying another project in Bel- gium, and so Fruges must wait. But everything should spoke with both planners and the local mayor. get going again soon. “You have to be able to juggle things around in such cases”, he says, shrugging his shoulders. ruges is the new Mecca of the French wind energy But nerves of steel are necessary in any case if you scene. But without a car, you may find it difficult to are planning to take on responsibility for such a project: actually reach France’s wind energy attraction no. The Fruges wind farm will eventually comprise 70 Ener- 1. The railway station in the little town of Hesdin con E-70 turbines. The total installed capacity of 140 (see map on page 172) leaves you still well short of MW is to be divided between 16 individual sites be- Fyour destination. The train departs, and the station mas- longing to eight different communities around Fruges. ter informs you sullenly that there is only one return train Seventeen hectares of land have been set aside. De- a day - in the afternoon. A timetable is apparently not spite the enormous scope of the project, the wind tur- considered necessary. It is certainly useful to have booked bines are spread very generously across the landscape. a hotel – and to bring along plenty of time! It is not easy to gain a feel for the dimensions of this The last 20 km can only be covered by taxi. For about mammoth project, because there is practically no sin- 20 minutes, the road runs through a rural landscape gle point from which it will be possible to survey the dotted with small villages, the so-called Seven Valleys whole farm once it is completed – and especially on a region. Then an industrial park appears, and you drive hazy day like today. dead-straight on to Fruges. This is where Strasbourg- The Fruges wind farm will one day generate 300 mil- based Ostwind International has set up its regional of- lion kWh electricity a year, equivalent to the typical con- fice. sumption of around 100,000 households. That will also 176 Sun & Wind Energy 6/2008 WIND ENERGY permit an annual saving of some 264,000 tonnes CO2. Street scene in Fruges: The For Ostwind, it is the largest project in the history of the wind farm project has giv- company to date. Almost 400 km of cable have been en the community new fi- buried within the farm, forming four independent sub- nancial freedoms. They are grids, each of which is connected to its own new sub- being used to make the station. Van Vooren praises the good cooperation with town more attractive for the central French grid operator Electricité de France young people and families. (EDF): “The grid connection was planned by EDF and fi- nanced by Ostwind”, says the project manager, “and everything has been running perfectly.” The overall project represents an investment volume of € 210 million and was financed essentially by four major investors, namely by Ostwind itself, the NGE uted very constructively”, said Fabien Kayser, director of group from Tarascon in the South of France, by Global Ostwind International, at the opening of the wind farm Energías Renovables SL (Spain) and the asset manage- in mid-February. Originally, it had been planned to erect ment group Babcock & Brown. Gisela Wendling-Lenz twice as many turbines (134 in total, with a combined and Ulrich Lenz, the international group managers at capacity of 225 MW). The regional prefecture, however, Ostwind, were delighted at the official inauguration at cut the project back to its present scope. And that was the beginning of the year: “We are really pleased that not the only stumbling block: At one point, legal action our development work has here fallen on fertile ground filed against the project almost rendered the whole and that we are now seeing the first visible returns.” planning worthless. But Ostwind entered a successful appeal. Construction work finally began in November The mayor lends full backing to the 2006. project Credit for the success is due to no small degree to the Mayor of Fruges, Jean-Jacques Hilmoine. He is at the Even so, the project development was by no means a same time president of the Fruges district association conflict-free process. The contract between the munic- (Communauté de Communes de Fruges). Hilmoine de- ipal authorities in Fruges and Ostwind International fended the project against all resistance and never tired was already signed in 2002. “The local inhabitants wel- in his efforts to point out the benefits of the wind farm comed the project from the very start and have contrib- for the population. “Our region is blessed with constant It‘s NEW: It‘s WIND. WIND ENERGY permission for projects in the départements Pas-de- Calais and La Somme.” Expansion already planned In addition to its office in Fruges, Ostwind International set up an office for the South of France in Toulouse in 2006. The head office in Strasbourg takes care of the northeast of the country and handles the financing for all the group’s activities in France. Besides the Ostwind team, there is also an operations management office in Fruges, where Conergy has five staff to look after the wind farm, and a further ten permanent staff from Ener- con who are responsible for maintenance. For Van Vooren, the Fruges project is the door-opener for all fur- ther business in Northern France: “We are noticing that we are everywhere well known, and that is now making many things easier than before.” The Ostwind regional office: The little community of Fruges, with its 2,000 inhab- From here, Jean-Marie Van winds. And with this project, we can turn our visions in- itants, is in the meantime also an object of considerable Vooren (front left) and his to reality”, he repeats at every possible opportunity. visitor interest: “School groups from Paris have been four staff look after the whole One important objective was to make the region attrac- here, and many local authority representatives, of Northwest of France. tive for young families and to encourage them to move course. There was even a coach from Austria”, Van here (see box text). Vooren recalls. That sometimes means an extra burden The project has already created a number of new of work, but good public relations are naturally very im- jobs. Initially with Ostwind: In the pretty yellow house portant for a project of this scale. Especially when the in which the company has set up its offices, Van Vooren support of the local population remains urgently neces- is assisted by four staff. He is also not only responsible sary. After all, an expansion is already planned. But that for the Fruges wind farm - all the Ostwind projects in first requires the designation of three priority zones the Northwest of France, along the windy Atlantic and (ZDE, see page 175). And so Ostwind is hoping for a Channel coasts, are coordinated from here. Van Vooren wind-energy-friendly decision from the regional pre- lists some of his forthcoming plans: “We are building fecture. Martin Frey five turbines in the département La Manche in Lower Further information: www.ostwind.fr Normandy. And then we are also waiting for building Economy, social facilities and tourism all benefit “Without the wind farm, none of these invest- age of four in March this year, and four new ments would have been possible.” Jean- day facilities for schoolchildren are to help at- Jacques Hilmoine is the Mayor of Fruges and tract young families. A new social services president of a district association comprising centre accommodates the Red Cross and a 25 local communities. The project to erect 70 soup kitchen. A medical centre is scheduled wind turbines has given the mayor new finan- to open next year, and from September this cial freedoms. The income from trade tax year there will even be an attended residence alone amounts to € 2 million a year. “We have project for senior citizens with 22 little hous- thus tripled our previous budget.” And es. Hilmoine is spending the extra revenue from To promote tourism in the region, which the wind farm on improvements to the local has to date remained rather underdeveloped infrastructure: in this respect, Hilmoine is planning to set up Mayor Jean-Jacques “We have been able to allocate the third a tourism office and a wind energy informa- Hilmoine section of our business park.” In the meantime, tion trail. A new cultural office organises clas- seven new companies have set up business, sical concerts with nationally known ensem- including an archaeological services provider.