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Bloomberg
A collective of more than 200 farmers in a rural part of the Netherlands got financing to build one of the largest onshore wind farms in the country.
Windpark Zeewolde BV secured 500 million euros ($561 million) of debt from Rabobank to construct the 322-megawatt wind farm about 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of Amsterdam.
The group plans to replace more than 200 old wind mills scattered across the area with 83 new turbines from Vestas Wind Systems A/S. The park is set to be completed in 2022.
The wind farm is an example of a process known as re-powering, where older turbines are replaced by new ones.
Wind technology has improved so much over the years that developers can use far fewer turbines and still get more power than that provided by older models.
“This project represents a step change for re-powering in Europe,†said Oliver Metcalfe, a wind analyst at BloombergNEF. The finished project will be more than four times the size of the next biggest re-powered wind farm currently in operation on the continent, he said.
The deal is also a blow to Germany’s Enercon GmbH, which previously had a contract to supply turbines for the wind park.