Europe's largest onshore wind farm is now fully operational. The development emerged as EDF Energies Nouvelles announced the commissioning of the final tranche of the Ventominho wind farm in Portugal.

Located close to the Spanish border in north-western Portugal, the Ventominho project comprises 120 wind turbines (240 MW), the final ones of which have now entered service. EDF EN Portugal, a subsidiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles, and Eolverde, an Endesa subsidiary, jointly own 85 percent of the project.

The 2 MW wind turbines were supplied by German manufacturer Enercon.

The plant comprises a set of five interconnected sub-farms across 30km, with a single point of connection to the electricity grid.

EDF Energies Nouvelles has built 453.8 MW in gross and 240.9 MW in net capacity in Portugal, and is finalising the construction of another 112 MW (Arada wind farm, 100 percent-owned by the Group, 50 MW already in service).

Portugal's mixture of government enthusiasm, subsidies and special tariffs has turned it into one of the focal points of renewables development in Europe over the past five years, highlighted guardian.co.uk.

Manuel Pinho, Minister of Economy and Innovation, Portugal, said, "By 2010, we will have 5,000MW of wind energy installed, meaning we will have increased it tenfold in just five years. This is another step towards putting our country in the vanguard of what is being done with renewable energy."