London Array
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This article or section contains information about a planned or proposed power plant, or power plant under construction. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the construction and/or completion of the power plant approaches, and more information becomes available. |
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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 off the North Foreland on the Kent coast in the area of Long Sand and Kentish Knock,[2] and will cover 90 square miles 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 to be installed at the latter stages of construction and would provide considerably more power, making the installation approach a 1.5 GW rating. 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 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. [5]
After the pull-out of Shell in May 2008, completion time estimates are being pushed back as the consortium is in disarray.[6]
The turbines are to be assembled at Port Ramsgate.
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[edit] Progress and timetable
- 18 December 2006—planning permission for turbines granted, but siting of onshore substation is being contested [7]
- 2007—planning permission for onshore substation granted [5]
- 2008—first turbines expected [8]
- 2010—completion date estimate as of 2007
[edit] See also
- Thanet Offshore Wind Project - a 300 MW consented offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary
- Greater Gabbard - a 500 MW consented offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary
- Kentish Flats [1] - a 90 MW operational offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary
- Wind power in the United Kingdom
[edit] References
- ^ London Array official site
- ^ London Array boundary map (PDF)
- ^ London Array official turbine information
- ^ London Array project introduction
- ^ a b 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
- ^ Voss, S, Giant Wind Farm Pits English Town Against Shell, E.ON, Bloomberg, 2006-12-15
- ^ Offshore wind farms get go-ahead, BBC News, 2006-12-18
