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£50m Gwynty y Môr Wind Farm investment for Flintshire port

A FLINTSHIRE dock has been chosen as the maintenance base for a two-billion-euro wind farm project, creating 100 skilled jobs.

The Port of Mostyn has struck a deal with RWE npower renewables which will see £50m in investment at the site near Holywell over the next 25 years.

The port will support the construction and maintenance of the Gwynt y Môr wind farm, one of the largest in Europe, which is being built 10 miles off the North Wales Coast near Colwyn Bay and Llandudno.

The new farm is expected to be fully operational by 2014 and will create enough electricity to power 400,000 homes – a third of Wales.

Jim O’Toole, managing director of the Port of Mostyn, said: “We are absolutely delighted. This is very significant for us and for north east Wales. The 25-year maintenance contract will consolidate jobs which have been created here over the last eight years and will create 100 new jobs which we hope to recruit from the local area.

“It’s a nice shot in the arm for north east Wales and it’s especially welcome at this economic time.”

The company will also build a pontoon and a purpose-built operations and maintenance base and Mostyn will become the base for all its windfarms at Liverpool Bay, North Hoyle, Rhyl Flats and Gwynt y Môr.

Mr O’Toole added: “In 2016 a project called Zone Nine will be built and it’s eight times larger than Gwynt y Môr. We will be making a bid for that. That’s where our sights are set for the future. We have to compete for the business.

“That size of scheme would require more than one port, but we have plans at the project stage at the moment.”

RWE npower renewables’ Gwynt y Môr project director Toby Edmonds said: “We are very pleased to have been able to secure the Port of Mostyn as our home for the next 25 years.

“The port has already proved itself extremely capable as the base for construction and operation of North Hoyle and Rhyl Flats and this agreement builds on this.”

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