Rhode wind farm reaches major milestone

Yellow River Wind Farm in Rhode has reached a construction milestone with the pouring of concrete on the project’s first wind turbine base.

Alongside lead contractor Farrans, and supply chain members, KR Formwork, BD Flood Concrete and Erne Concrete Pumping, SSE Renewables has successfully completed the first of 29 concrete pours for Yellow River wind farm.

The 46 ready-mix lorry deliveries, from local supplier BD Flood carried the concrete to the first turbine site from local batching plants. Each turbine base will support one of 29 Nordex N117/3600 wind turbines.

SSE Renewables commenced construction on the wind farm in October 2022, with the expected completion date in 2024. The project is expected to support up to 80 full-time construction jobs at peak delivery.

Yellow River Project Manager, Paul Rodgers said: "While we are at the start of the construction journey for Yellow River Wind Farm, we have come so far in a relatively short time and we’re another step closer to realising Ireland’s net zero ambitions.

"Our Yellow River wind farm project is also contributing to SSE Renewables’ own ambitious Net Zero Acceleration Plan which sees us spending around €8m a day on critical low-carbon infrastructure needed for the global transition to net zero emissions.

“At a community level, our focus is now on building strong and meaningful relationships with people living and working in the vicinity of the Yellow River Wind Farm. As a responsible developer and operator, we are looking forward to working closely with the community in Rhode, Offaly and the wider region to fully realise the benefits of this exciting project.”

Once completed, the windfarm will be capable of generating enough green energy to power over 66,000 homes and offset over 70 million kg of carbon dioxide annually. This will help Ireland meet its target of 80% renewable energy by 2030, as set out under the Climate Action Plan of 2021.

The Total annual homes powered quoted is based on projected capacity, typical wind load factor of 32%, and typical annual consumption (4,200kWh). Quoted CO2 emissions abated based on projected annual MWh output and latest average CO2 Emissions (0.291t/MWh) in the All-Island Single Electricity Market and published by the CRU in its Fuel Mix Disclosure and CO2 Emissions for 2018, September 2019.