The EDF Group announces the commissioning of the Catalan Wind Ensemble, a park with 96 MW of installed power, located in Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées. The installation is equipped with “stealth” wind turbines, the world’s first solution promoting coexistence between wind power and weather radars.
This large-scale wind farm was inaugurated today by Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman and CEO of the EDF Group, and Antoine Cahuzac, Executive Director of the EDF Group in charge of the Renewable Energies Sector and Managing Director of EDF Energies Nouvelles.
The Catalan Wind Ensemble is located in the Pyrénées-Orientales department, in the municipalities of Baixas, Calce, Pézilla-la-Rivière and Villeneuve-la-Rivière. Developed, built, commissioned and operated by EDF Energies Nouvelles, the subsidiary of the EDF Group dedicated to renewable energies, the park is made up of 35 turbines of 2 to 3 MW of unit power.
With an installed capacity of 96 MW, the Ensemble Eolien Catalan becomes the most powerful wind farm in France ahead of that of Salles-Curan (87 MW), commissioned by EDF Energies Nouvelles in 2008. Its production is equivalent to electricity consumption annual population of 120,000 inhabitants, or 25% of the department's inhabitants.
This high-tech installation is equipped with so-called “stealth” wind turbines. This innovation, borrowed from stealth military aeronautics equipment, comes from the collaboration of EDF Energies Nouvelles with the Danish turbine manufacturer Vestas and QinetiQ, a British company expert in defense and security technologies. Equipped with devices that greatly reduce the reflectivity of their components, stealth wind turbines significantly reduce their footprint on the radars operated by Météo France, such as the one installed near the wind installation.
The operation and maintenance of the entire wind farm will be carried out by EDF EN Services, a Group subsidiary dedicated to this activity.
With the commissioning of this new park, the Group operates 51% of wind capacity installed in the Region and exceeds 1.1 GW of wind power in France.
Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman and CEO of the EDF Group, declared at the inauguration: “European leader in low-carbon electricity, the EDF Group is present in all renewable sectors. As part of our CAP 2030 strategy, we will further accelerate our development in these energies in France. This illustrates our desire to build a diversified production mix to serve the energy transition. Technological innovation, which has always been at the heart of our commitment, will be a key element of this development. »
A major player in the energy transition, the EDF Group is an integrated energy company, present in all businesses: production, transport, distribution, trading, energy sales and energy services. Leader in low-carbon energies in the world, the Group has developed a diversified production mix based on nuclear energy, hydraulics, new renewable energies and thermal energy. The Group participates in the supply of energy and services to approximately 37.8 million customers, including 28.3 million in France. In 2015, it achieved a consolidated turnover of 75 billion euros, including 47.21 TP3T outside France. EDF is a company listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.
About EDF Energies Nouvelles
EDF Energies Nouvelles is an international leader in renewable electricity with an installed capacity of more than 9 GW gross worldwide. Its development is mainly focused on wind power and photovoltaic solar power. Mainly present in Europe and North America, EDF EN continues its development by taking a position in new promising markets and in new countries such as South Africa, Brazil, Chile, China and India. The Company, which is strongly positioned in the offshore wind sector, is also present in other renewable energy sectors: marine energies, biogas and biomass as well as in distributed energies. EDF EN ensures the development and construction of renewable energy projects as well as their operation and maintenance, for its own account and on behalf of third parties. EDF Energies Nouvelles is the subsidiary of the EDF group dedicated to the development of renewable energies.
Press Contacts
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