151 wind turbines are already in place, the remaining will soon follow

Oct 30, 2012 14:20 GMT  ·  By

Only yesterday, DONG Energy, E.ON and Masdar made it public news that the London Array (i.e. the world's largest offshore wind farm) successfully generated its first watts and fed them into the country's national grid.

Apparently, this offshore wind farm is to comprise 175 Siemens 3.6MW turbines, of which 151 have thus far been installed. Should things go as planned, the remaining 24 should be set in place and connected to the grid within the following few months.

Once all of these wind turbines are set in place, their combined power generating capacity will translate into as many as 470,000 households across the UK having their electricity demands met with the help of this green energy source.

According to Business Green, the UK Country Manager for DONG Energy, Benj Sykes, made a case of how, “The London Array project will be the first of the next generation of larger offshore wind farms and we are pleased to have reached first power.”

Furthermore, “Being able to efficiently develop large offshore wind farms and harvest the scale advantages in both construction and operation is an important element in our continuous efforts to bring down costs of energy of offshore wind.”

This large-scale offshore wind farm is located in the Thames Estuary, and local officials hope that is will do more than just help improve on the country's ecological footprint.

Thus, they believe that these wind turbines will also deliver significant financial benefits, both because the electricity they will soon start generating is to be rather cheap, and because proper management of this wind farm will help create various job opportunities.

A second phase of this project, which is still waiting for approval, is expected to add a 240MW power generating capacity to the 630MW already delivered by said 175 turbines.

“To have a world class wind farm maintained from Ramsgate is great for the local community and local business. We very much hope that the company will be able to realize its plans to develop Phase Two adding an additional 240MW,” stated Laura Sandys, MP Thanet South.