Sabinapolder Wind Farm (Moerdijk) reopened

Arnhem, 21 January 2010 - Today, Essent officially put into operation the Sabinapolder Wind Farm in Heijingen, part of the municipality of Moerdijk.

During a festive gathering, member of the Provincial Executive Lily Jacobs reopened the wind farm that delivers green energy to almost 4,000 households. At the wind farm, Essent has replaced the seven outmoded wind turbines by seven new ones. The project is the final piece of a large replacement operation (repowering) of wind turbines at wind farms in Brabant.

Over the past years, Essent has replaced 32 wind turbines at its wind farms in Halsteren (2004), Volkerak (2005) and Sabinapolder (2009) by 26 new wind turbines. ‘I am proud of the result and of the fact that with fewer wind turbines we can now produce more green energy’, said Rick van Mensvoort from Essent. ‘The three wind farms are able to produce green energy for a total of 12,500 households.’

About Sabinapolder

Sabinapolder Wind Farm went into operation for the first time in 1995. At that time, the wind farm consisted of seven wind turbines, which generated green energy for almost 1,600 households. In early 2007, a start was made with the disassembly of the outmoded wind turbines and one year later, work started on the installation of seven new wind turbines.

Wind power, on land and on sea

Wind power is an essential part of Essent's energy mix, both on land and on sea. Amongst other things, Essent operates the largest wind farm in the Netherlands at Eemshaven (156 MW) in Groningen. In the Netherlands, new projects are undergoing preparation in the North, South and Mid Netherlands. Early this month, the parent company RWE announced that it had received the go-ahead for the development of offshore wind power projects along the British coast, with a total capacity of circa 4,000 MW. It also made the decision to invest in the construction of the Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm, with a planned installed capacity of 295 MW. This original Essent project will be carried out in the eastern North Sea along the German coast. Towards the end of last year, Essent received the licence for the construction of a wind farm in the North Sea. The intention is that the Tromp wind farm will have a capacity of 300 megawatts (MW) and comprise 59 wind turbines 150 metres in height.

Published: 21 January 2010