Visitors to the South Wales town of Llantrisant spotted a bright new addition to the landscape – a giant revolving daffodil – last fall.
The green and yellow wind turbine was installed on the hills behind the Royal Mint Experience, the Royal Mint’s award-winning visitor attraction, in September.
The Royal Mint “daffodil” started generating electricity directly into the Royal Mint beginning Sept. 5, after being switched on in an official opening ceremony by Royal Mint CEO Anne Jessopp.
“The hilly nature of our location gave us the perfect opportunity to install a wind turbine behind yhe Royal Mint site to help with our energy consumption and enhance our use of natural power,” said Jessopp. “I think that it is particularly apt that our daffodil-coloured turbine originally saw service in Holland—the land of flower bulbs.”
38-ACRE MINT SITE
The Royal Mint, which is a heavy user of electricity for powering its 38-acre site, coin striking activities and tourist attraction, installed the wind turbine in order to help make its fuel consumption more efficient. The project was carried out in conjunction with wind and solar energy project developer Infinite Renewables throughout four years.
“As renewable energy developers with a wealth of expertise in wind and solar schemes across the U.K., the Royal Mint’s ‘daffodil’ wind turbine is certainly one of the more unusual projects we have worked on,” said Andrew Crossman, of Infinite Renewables. “We are proud of the part we played in creating what is not only a source of low cost, green electricity, but also an iconic landmark for visitors to the Royal Mint Experience and the surrounding region.”
62.5 METRES HIGH
This is not the first time the 62.5-metre high Vestas V52 turbine has been in operation.
The now fully refurbished equipment was previously sited on a wind farm in the Netherlands.
The turbine can provide 850 kilowatts of power and complements solar energy panels positioned around the Royal Mint Experience and factory site.