Group planning 10 wind farms across Wales gets £600 million investment

A plan for a string of 10 major wind farm projects across Wales got a boost on Tuesday after its developers received a £600 million investment from a renewables fund.

The projects include Twyn Hywel wind farm, which was given planning permission last year, and will generate enough power for 81,000 homes when completed.

The investment has come from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, which is taking a stake in the companies hoping to build the wind farms, Bute Energy and Green GEN Cymru.

Nine more wind farms are still awaiting planning permission, forming part of a £3 billion onshore wind portfolio.

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"Vote of confidence"

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said it is a “significant investment and a vote of confidence” for the Government’s clean energy plans.

If it is allowed to build them all, Bute Energy’s entire portfolio of planned energy projects will generate enough power for 2.25 million homes by 2030.

It comes after Labour started a massive push towards wind and solar energy in recent months to make the UK less dependent on global gas prices.

The policy is designed to reduce carbon emissions from the power grid by 95% by the end of this decade.

Nischal Agarwal, partner at CIP, said the investment “reflects our confidence in the Welsh renewable sector to deliver much needed infrastructure to Welsh homes and businesses, to play a full role in meeting national renewable energy targets”.

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Welsh Government's plan

Bute Energy and Green GEN Cymru said their projects are in response to the Welsh Government’s plan for the country’s entire electricity consumption to come from renewable sources by 2035.

Bute Energy’s projects aim to meet 25% of this target – bosses say they could create up to 2,000 jobs.

Managing director of Bute Energy, Stuart George, added that the company hopes to have six of the projects on “the Cabinet Secretary’s desk” for decision by this summer.