The London Array, the world's largest off shore wind farm in the
Thames Estuary off the coast of the UK.
With enough capacity to power two-thirds of the homes in Kent, the set of 175 turbines rising out of the Thames estuary officially became the largest offshore windfarm in the world on Thursday.
David Cameron was on hand to cut the ribbon on the London Array, a massive renewable energy project, in a move that industry sources hoped would herald renewed enthusiasm from the government for renewable power after the animosity to windfarms on the Tory backbenches.
"This is a great day for Britain and a big win for renewable energy," Cameron said at the opening ceremony. "London Array shows you can build large-scale renewable energy projects right here in Britain. This is because when it comes to clean energy, the UK has one of the clearest investment climates globally."
The project is owned by Denmark's Dong Energy, Germany's E.On and Masdar, of Abu Dhabi. Its 630MW capacity, enough to power 470,000 homes, has been fully operational since April, but on Thursday it was officially opened, by the prime minister alongside the climate change minister, Greg Barker. The consortium predicts that the windfarm will save 925,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.
"Such a strong signal from the very top of our political establishment will help to put an end to the siren calls from the naysayers who have failed to appreciate the scale of the opportunity Britain has here," said the RenewableUK chief executive, Maria McCaffery, in a statement. "We need to maintain our pole position in offshore wind energy to reap the full economic and environmental benefits."
The London Array has taken the crown of the world's largest offshore windfarm from the 500MW Greater Gabbard project off the East Anglian coast. The UK currently has more than 3.6GW of offshore wind powercapacity, but is expected to have around 18GW by the end of the decade.
The news was welcomed by Greenpeace's executive director, John Sauven, who said the London Array demonstrated the UK's ability to deliver large-scale renewable energy projects.
From The Guardian
From The Guardian
Good news! Yes we must take advantage of the wind. It's clean and safe but I'm afraid the mills spoil the view. Anyway it's better than using petrol.
ReplyDeleteThat's right. I also think they damage a bit the view we have. Here in Portugal we also have some windmill farms but on land and I think the landscape would be more pleasant without them but the alternatives are not better for the environment.
ReplyDeleteAt least windmills are a clean way of producing energy.
Thanks for sharing such an important issue. We all have to protect our planet, right?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Always trying to use the natural resources to preserve nature.
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ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. Thanks. I'll come again
ReplyDeleteWow it's really huge! I didn't know this was being built!
ReplyDeleteThasnks for this relevant information!
Hi, there! Nice blog. The articles you post are very interesting. I like them. I think I'll visit this blog more often. Thanks for your work!
ReplyDeleteIT's always good to have people who worry about the environment and the quality of life on hearth. This is an important updated blog to visit. Keep doing this good work!
ReplyDeleteEverybody knows how important it is to preserve our planet! This is good news! Clean energy from a nature element like wind is going to save tons of petrol, coal, etc. Pollution will decrease and the air will be cleaner and healthier. Thanks for sharing. Bye!
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