Construction complete at Sommette wind farm in France

Natural Power has successfully completed the construction phase of the Sommette wind farm in Picarde, Northern France.

Total installed capacity for the Sommette wind farm is 21.6 MW from nine Nordex N117/2400 turbines, each with capacity of 2.4 MW. The project benefits from a 15-year feed in tariff.

Baptiste Durand, Construction Manager at Natural Power in France, said: “Sommette wind farm is a typical French project, where Natural Power’s experts can help the project owner successfully through the construction phase, and we are delighted to have helped deliver this project ahead of schedule.”

Stefan Istrate, Commercial Construction Manager at John Laing, highlighted: “Natural Power delivered a strong performance during the construction phase at Sommette, with a good quality of service, being able to manage the completion of construction and start of the operational phase more than one month in advance.”

John Laing Group plc, the international originator, active investor and manager of infrastructure projects, acquired 100% of the Sommette-Eaucourt wind farm in September 2016, from French developer of the site and also EPC contractor for the BOP. In addition to John Laing’s £11.7m equity investment, the construction of the Sommette wind farm was project financed with debt from ING Bank.