CTO Assessment - European Commission

HEINERSCHEID
Wind Farm
Wandpark Gemeng Hengischt S.A
Maison 21 • L-9753 Heinerscheid • Luxembourg
Tel: +352 99 85 08-1 • Fax: +352 99 76 82
On the basis of the Energy Law which came
into force on the 5 th August 1993, the Luxembourg
government concentrated on promoting
the use of renewable energies. Wind
power has come to have an important role
as it has the greatest economic development
potential of all the renewable energy
possibilities in Luxembourg. The project
was the establishment of a large wind farm
in the commune of Heinerscheid, located
on the northern tip of Luxembourg.
Main aims and motivations
The project set out to fully exploit the potential
of wind power, to raise the share of
RES in the area and to fulfil the regulatory
guidelines as to the promotion and
utilization of Renewable Energy Sources
in Luxembourg.
The project
Heinerscheid was selected as it experiences
favourable wind measures and is at an acceptable
distance from residential areas,
protected areas such as nature reserves
and the national grid.
In 1996 the local council assigned the
Energy Agency the task of developing a
concept for making use of wind energy.
Many interested parties had addressed the
council to obtain permission to set up a
wind farm in Heinerscheid. The council
proposed that all parties join together with
the united aim of planning, building and
managing a wind farm. The wind farm was
established in three Building Phases. The
first was of 3 turbines with an output of
600 kW per machine and was completed
by autumn 1998, the second was of 5 wind
turbines at 1,000 kW per turbine and they
were running by the end of 1999. The final
phase set up 3 turbines with an output of
1,800 kW each.
The total installed capacity of the
Heinscheid wind farm is 12,200kW.
An innovative partnership scheme
The partnership scheme between the interested
parties, who after much organizing,
founded the Wandpark Gemeng Hengsicht
S.A. The capital 3,200,000 Euro, divided
into 12,800 shares at 250 Euro each. The
local council is the legal holder of 22.5%
of the shares and aims to sell 20% to the
local community. This keeps the community
involved with and concerned for the
success of the wind farm.
Overall Evaluation
The project has been successfully implemented
and is in good working order. The
electricity generated by the wind farm substitutes
fossil fuel use and about 14,375
tonnes of CO 2
emissions are being saved
annually. The project meets requirements
of noise limitation, shading and minimum
distance from protected areas.
Enabling factors
The financial outlay for the wind farm was
divided by the different companies participating,
each of them having a certain
amount of shares in the farm. Approx 1.1
m of the total investment was financed
through national government subsidies.
In Heinerscheid feed-in tariffs for electricity
produced from wind power, which were
established by the Grand-Ducal regulation
of May 30 th , 1994, are set at levels that
render wind farm operation a profitable
endeavour.
Challenges
There were no real obstacles to the project
apart from a few technical setbacks. Problems
occurred with the gearboxes of the
wind turbines, which needed to be replaced.
Two propellers were also replaced during
the warranty period.
Replication Potential
Such a co-operation is possible anywhere.
The wind farm makes a useful working
model for other interested companies or
organizations. Many municipalities have
already contacted Heinerscheid for information
with a view to implementing similar
projects in their area.
Heinerscheid proves that municipal authorities
can act very successfully as cocoordinators
for wind farm construction.
A wind farm situated between Heinerscheid
and Kehmen is currently in the process of
being established.
RES Increase
The energy produced each year is enough
to supply 6,000 households (at 4,000 kWh
per household) this equates to 0.6% of the
total energy demand on the public Electricity
grid.
Business year Energy production Contribution of phase 1 Contribution of phase 2
1999 3.9 GWh 3.9 GWh 0.0 GWh
2000 11.9 GWh 3.7 GWh 8.2 GWh
2001 11.1 GWh 3.6 GWh 7.5 GWh
2002 11,6 11.6 GWh 3,6 3.6 GWh 8,0 8.0 GWh
66 CTO - Showcase