CONSTRUCTION HAS begun on an ESB wind farm in Co Derry consisting of six wind turbines with the capacity to power 8,000 homes. Each is 100m (328ft) tall, with rotors 80m in diameter.

British wind energy company RES will build the Curryfree wind farm which will be located between Dunamanagh and New Buildings. The project is expected to take 12 months to finish.

The State-owned electricity utility also announced yesterday that another wind farm, a 20 megawatt facility with eight turbines in Co Tyrone, has started supplying electricity to 20,000 homes.

This development follows the ESB’s announcement last month that it is to buy Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), which owns the North’s electricity transmission and distribution networks, from its owner, Viridian, for €1.25 billion.

The ESB now owns Northern Ireland’s national grid, the backbone of the electricity network, which transmits power from generating stations, and the distribution network, which delivers power to customers.

The deal means that the ESB will control over €7 billion worth of transmission and distributions assets.

Northern Ireland’s utility watchdog regulates NIE, which means it determines licensing and the amount that is charged to electricity suppliers to use the network.

The ESB will not manage the network. This will be done by System Operators Northern Ireland, which is owned by Eirgrid, the State company that has been managing the Republic’s national grid since 2006.