Powerteam, a wholly owned subsidiary of ESB, is in the final stages of completing a €3.1million electrical substation construction and fit out for SSE Renewable’s windfarm in west Limerick.
Located to the north of Abbeyfeale, close to the village of Athea, the windfarm will add a further 34MW of wind capacity to SSE’s portfolio, bringing its total operational wind farm capacity in Ireland to over 500MW.
Powerteam was responsible for the electrical design of the substation which will connect the 16 turbine wind farm to the electricity grid, procurement of equipment, civil engineering work, installation of electrical equipment, commissioning and testing of installed equipment and overall project management.
Alastair Dawson, Managing Director, Powerteam said the Athea project was their seventh wind farm project for SSE and their 42nd wind farm project in the UK and Ireland.
Those 42 wind farms represent enough renewable energy to power more than 675,000 homes for a whole year.
“During construction Powerteam employed 25 people and helped boost the economies of nearby towns by working with various local suppliers.”
Athea, and other SSE wind farms located in West Limerick, will help towards achieving Ireland’s national target of 40 per cent renewables by 2020 and the EU’s mandatory 20 per cent reduction in carbon emissions.
SSE Renewables Project Manager Seamus Lynch said they would be assembling the remaining turbines over the coming months, and hoped to complete the handover of the Athea facility by December.
When completed, SSE’s Limerick wind farms will have a combined generation capacity of 68MW, producing enough energy to power up to 350,000 homes.”
Powerteam are currently working on a number of other wind farm projects in the UK and Ireland together with various large scale electrical infrastructure projects for customers such as Scottish Power, Northern Powergrid, Electricity North West and SSE.