MORE than a dozen new wind turbines have been built at Goole Fields Wind Farm and plugged in to the National Grid.

RWE Innogy UK has installed 16 wind turbines at its Goole Fields Wind Farm in East Yorkshire which are now supplying the electricity grid.

With a total generating capacity of 32.8megawatts (MW), the development has the potential to meet the demands of the equivalent of up to 18,200 UK households each year.

Construction at the site started in early 2012, after the wind farm was granted consent by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council in September 2010. During the development and construction phases, contracts were placed with a number of Yorkshire businesses and a Community Liaison Forum kept the local community fully informed of progress with the work.

Now that the wind farm is fully operational, the Goole Fields Wind Farm Community Fund will also go live in the autumn, with the first allocations of money being available from January 2015. This fund will invest in the region of £1.3million over the operational lifetime of the wind farm.

Tim Daldry, project manager for RWE Innogy UK, said: “The last turbines at Goole have now been commissioned and tested and along with the other turbines are generating green electricity to the grid.

“We worked closely with the Goole Community Liaison Group, the local Council and the Highways Agency to minimise disruption on the roads during construction. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the local community for their continued support.

“We now move into the next phase of the site, which will see the community investment fund go live. This fund will benefit Goole Fields’ neighbouring communities. All decisions on the allocation of funds will be made by a panel of local community representatives, appointed by East Riding of Yorkshire Council. More details about this fund will be available over the coming months both locally and on our website.”