London Array
51°38′38″N 1°33′13″E / 51.64389°N 1.55361°E The London Array is a planned offshore wind farm in the outer Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom. Of 1 gigawatt capacity, it is expected to become the world's largest offshore wind farm.[1]
The site is seven miles (11 km) off the North Foreland on the Kent coast in the area of Long Sand and Kentish Knock,[2] and will cover 90 square miles (230 km2) between Margate in Kent and Clacton in Essex.
The completed wind farm will consist of 341 wind turbines of around 3 MW to 7 MW rated capacity,[3] which will provide an average power output of 350 MW at the smallest proposed turbine size. The higher rated turbines will be installed in the second stage of construction and will provide considerably more power. The proposers say this is enough to power a quarter of the homes in Greater London or the entire counties of Kent and East Sussex.
The turbines are to be assembled at Port Ramsgate.
Financial support and timetable
The wind farm was planned to be built by London Array Limited, a consortium of Shell WindEnergy Ltd, E.ON UK Renewables and DONG Energy,[4] at a cost of £2bn. The original cost was around £1bn. This has now risen from yestrdays results to £5bn[5]
In May 2008, Shell announced that it was pulling out of the project, leaving the consortium in disarray.[6] However it was announced in July that E.ON UK and DONG Energy would buy Shell's stake.[7] Subsequently on 16 October 2008, London Array announced the Abu Dhabi-based Masdar would join E.ON as a joint venture party in the scheme. Under the agreement, Masdar purchased 40 percent of E.ON's half share of the scheme, giving Masdar a 20% stake in the project overall. The accompanying press release confirmed that the proposed completion date for the first stage will be some time in 2012 and will consist of up to 175 turbines. Siemens Energy will supply 175 SWT-3.6 turbines for this project.[8] The second stage (bringing the revised total to 271 turbines) will add enough capacity to generate 1,000 MW for 750,000 homes.[9] In March 2009, the backers agreed on an initial investment of €2.2 billion.[10]
As of May 2009, the partners are satisfied that the project is now financially viable and plan to produce the first renewable power in 2012. Onshore work is now due to start in 2009, with offshore work due to start in early 2011.[11]
The 175 turbine first phase of 630 MW should be completed and generating in 2012. The second phase will add enough capacity to bring the total to 1000 MW.[11]
See also
- Thanet Offshore Wind Project — a 300 MW consented offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary
- Greater Gabbard wind farm — a 500 MW consented offshore wind farm 23 km east of Felixstowe
- Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm - a 172 MW consented offshore wind farm 7km east of Clacton-on-Sea
- Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm — a 90 MW operational offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary
- Wind power in the United Kingdom
References
- ^ London Array official site
- ^ London Array boundary map (PDF)
- ^ London Array official turbine information
- ^ London Array project introduction
- ^ Murray J, "Thames Array gets planning green light", BusinessGreen blog, 2007-10-05
- ^ Shell pulls out of key wind power project, Financial Times, 01 May 2008
- ^ "E.ON and DONG Energy become 50:50 partners in world's largest offshore wind farm". The London Array. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
- ^ "Siemens to provide 175 wind turbines for the world's largest offshore wind farm London Array" (pdf) (Press release). Siemens AG Press Office Energy. 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
- ^ "E.ON and Masdar have joined forces as partners in the London Array offshore wind farm project" (PDF). The London Array. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
- ^ Teather D, "Thames offshore wind farm gets green light from investors", The Guardian, 13 May 2009
- ^ a b UK's London Array Given Green Light