The Walney Extension, the world’s largest offshore windfarm, has officially begun generating off the northwest coast of England.
The development consists of 87 turbines, 190m in height, made by Siemens Gamesa and MHI Vestas. Together, they are producing some 660MW of power, slightly larger than the London Array off the coast of southeast England, which has a capacity of 630MW.
Matthew Wright, the managing director of the windfarm’s Danish developer, Orsted UK, said Britain’s offshore success was due its strong wind speeds, shallow waters and state support.
"For the past 10 years, governments of all colours have supported renewable energy and offshore wind in the UK, leading to a thriving industry," he told Reuters.
The wind farm, owned by Orsted and two Danish pension funds, covers an area of 145 square kilometres.
Claire Perry, the UK energy minister, said: "Record-breaking engineering landmarks like this huge offshore wind farm help us consolidate our global leadership position, break records for generating renewable energy, and create thousands of high quality jobs.
"As part of our modern Industrial Strategy we’ve set out a further £557m of funding for new renewable projects, helping to tackle climate change and deliver clean growth to local economies."
Image: The Walney Extension (Orsted)
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Once again the United Kingdom shows itself incapable of owning and constructing any major infrastructure project within its own realm let alone overseas. Failure to carry out these projects and the failure of Carillion goes to show that management talent in the UK is close to the bottom of the barrel