Largest Offshore Wind Farm in World Completed in UK
Since I’m on a renewable energy in Europe kick this week, thought I’d share one more piece of good news. The largest offshore wind farm in the world was launched in the UK last week.
This $1.2 billion wind farm, called the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, consists of 100 V90 wind turbines from Danish wind energy giant Vestas. These wind turbines will create enough power for 200,000 homes (300 MW of power). They increase the UK’s wind energy capacity 30% and the UK is now the largest producer of wind energy in the world.
At its closest, the wind farm is 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from the shoreline of Foreness Point in Kent, England. And while most major power plants are places to avoid, the company that bought this project in 2008 and brought it to completion, Vattenfall, points out that this wind farm could actually become a tourist attraction. “Many visitors have been attracted to both onshore and offshore wind farm developments in the past,” Vattenfall writes.
With this installation completed and a lot more like it in the pipeline, the UK looks like it will have no problem meeting the 2020 renewable energy target it set for itself.
“With 5GW of wind energy capacity already feeding the UK grid (three-quarters of which comes from land-based wind farms) and another 18GW of wind capacity in construction and in the project pipeline, the UK is well on its way to reach its renewable energy target of generating one-third of its electricity via renewable sources by 2020,” Timothy Hurst of Earth & Industry writes.
Wonderful to see so much renewable energy progress in Europe this month.
Related Stories:
1. Northern Ireland Plans to Hit 40% Renewable Energy by 2020
2. Scotland Aiming for 100% Clean Energy by 2025
3. Denmark & Germany Next to Announce Big Renewable Energy Targets & Possibilities
Photo Credit: Thanet Offshore Wind Farm in the UK via Vattenfall
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About the Author
Zachary Shahan is the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular cleantech-focused website in the world, and Planetsave, a world-leading green and science news site. He has been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and he has been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, and wind energy since 2009. Aside from his work on CleanTechnica and Planetsave, he's the founder and director of Solar Love, EV Obsession, and Bikocity. To connect with Zach on some of your favorite social networks, go to ZacharyShahan.com and click on the relevant buttons.
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