The world's biggest offshore wind farm off the UK’s Kent coast is being officially opened later today.
Built at a cost of £800 million, the 100 turbines will be able to produce 300 megawatts of electricity—enough energy per year to power the equivalent of more than 200,000 homes. The 380 foot-tall turbines are spread over an area of more than 35 square kilometres.
Up to 341 turbines will be installed at the wind farm over a four-year period.
The site, which lies seven miles off Foreness Point in Thanet, will boost the UK’s capacity to generate wind power by 30 per cent. The UK's total offshore capacity is now 1,341 megawatts.
The UK government's 2020 target is to have a share of 15 per cent of green energy sources in final energy demand.Renewable energy currently provides around nine per cent of the UK’s electricity consumption.
There are currently around 250 wind farms operating in the UK, with a further 12 offshore, and 2,909 turbines in operation.
Thanet is owned by the Swedish company Vattenfall, which also owns the nearby 30-turbine Kentish Flats wind farm, off Herne Bay.
Vattenfall produces 25 per cent of the world’s offshore wind power. The company is currently working on the development of the East Anglia Array, a gigantic offshore wind farm site in the North Sea, off England’s east coast.
Vattenfall fully or partially owns and operates eight offshore wind farms in total: three in Sweden, one in Denmark, one in the Netherlands, two in the UK and one in Germany. Vattenfall’s share of their total production capacity amounts to 690 megawatts.
