Ground Breaking Ceremony at Cyprus’ First Wind Farm

The ground was broken for the first time at Cyprus’ first ever wind farm in Kouklia near the Orites region. As soon as the project is up and running, it will supply 82MW using 41 wind turbines which will produce roughly ten percent of the island’s clean energy needs.

The first phase of the project will see 82 MW of wind energy capacity installed, and additional phases will see another 140 MW installed at the same site. Orites is the first facility to be controlled in the private sector for the island. The island will be benefiting from a 20 year, fixed rate tariff which was recently granted by the governments of the EU and the Republic of Cyprus.

The wind farm will operate commercially as soon as the end of 2010 and is situated on the Orites Mountain on a 16 km2 piece of land. The farm will be managed by DK Wind Supply Ltd, and the turbines are Vestas V90 2MW turbines. Financing for the project was received from Platina Partners LLP, as well as several other Europe-based banks.

The project is expected to increase clean energy on the island significantly. The government has set a renewable energy goal of 13 percent of the country’s electricity to be supplied by renewables by 2020.

Government officials in Cyprus have encouraged the project as it will put Cyprus in a position to become a major electricity-producing country by using renewables such as wind energy. The total investment of the project totals €170 million.