Dong Energy, E.On and Masdar have announced that they will invest £1.96 billion in building the first phase (630 MW) of the London Array offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary off the east coast of England. Once complete, the scheme will be the the world’s largest, and the first 1GW offshore wind farm.
The UK government welcomed the announcement. Prime minister Gordon Brown said "The London Array is a flagship project in our drive to cut emissions by 80% by 2050 and meet future energy needs. The UK is a world leader in offshore wind farms, creating jobs and prosperity for the economy. That's why we have increased our support for this technology as we move towards a low carbon future. E.ON, DONG and Masdar are to be congratulated for their work on the London Array."
The announcement came hard on the heels of the UK government’s recent proposal (in its 2009 Budget) to increase its support for offshore wind power and other renewables. UK chancellor Alistair Darling earmarked £525 million for off-shore wind energy projects over the next two years. He also unveiled a new deal with the European Investment Bank to provide up to £4 billion for investment in renewable infrastructure projects. The £525 million will be streamed into the Renewables Obligation Certificates scheme, the UK government’s support mechanism designed to make it more attractive for companies to invest in wind energy generation.
E.On chief executive officer Dr. Wulf Bernotat said: “I’m delighted that work can now get underway on the world’s largest offshore wind farm. The start of London Array will mark a key milestone in our roadmap as we continue with our ambitious strategy to take renewables to an industrial level. With this pioneering scheme, we see a significant increase in scale for offshore wind and also for E.On as we aim to become the world’s largest offshore wind farm developer.”
Onshore work is now due to start in the summer, with offshore work due to start in early 2011.
The scheme will be built around 12 miles off the coasts of Kent and Essex on a 90 square mile site and will be built in two phases. The consortium hopes the first phase, consisting of 175 turbines with a total capacity of 630MW, will be completed and generating in 2012. The second phase will add enough capacity to bring the total to 1000 MW.
The process of constructing five off-shore wind farms and dozens of on-shore turbines, some of which were in danger of stalling completely, has been moved forward by Alistair Darling’s promise to pump hundreds of millions of pounds into the industry. Following the London Array announcement, Danish energy group Dong confirmed it would also move forward with plans to build its Walney II wind farm in the Irish Sea off Cumbria. The scheme, which will be built by Siemens Wind Power, is now expected to be completed by 2012.
The three other approved off-shore sites are Gwynt y Môr, north Wales (RWE npower renewables), West of Duddon Sands, Scotland (ScottishPower, Dong and Eurus Energy) and ‘Lincs’ and extension of Lynn and Inner Dowsing off the east coast of England (Centrica Energy).
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