Poland closer to wind energy goals

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ESSEN, Germany, May 10 (UPI) -- Construction for a 19-turbine wind farm near the Polish city of Gdansk is nearly under way on a 3,700-acre site, energy company RWE Innogy announced.

RWE Innogy said it expected construction vehicles to arrive at the site of the Nowy Staw wind farm, the company's fourth in Poland, in the coming days.

"With Nowy Staw we are expanding our wind portfolio in Poland by almost 40 megawatts," Fritz Vahrenholt, the chief executive officer of the German energy company, said in a statement. "This will bring us a great step closer to our goal of adding 50 MW of wind capacity in Poland every year until 2015."

Utility companies in Poland are obligated to provide a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable energy resources.

The 19 wind turbines designated for the Nowy Staw wind farm could provide as much as 39 MW of power.

The company said it expects to commission the wind farm, situated on a 3,900-acre site, at the beginning of next year.

It could produce enough energy to meet the annual electricity demands of more than 50,000 homes.