Largest Offshore Wind Farm Is Opened Off the British Coast

A coalition of European companies today opened a 367-megawatt wind farm off the British coast, a massive project that developers say will power as many as 320,000 households annually and is the world’s largest offshore wind project to date. The Walney Wind Farm, located nine miles (15 kilometers) off Cumbria in the Irish Sea, is comprised of 102 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 3.6 megawatts. The £1 billion ($1.58 billion) project was developed by some European utility giants — including British power company SSE and Denmark’s Dong Energy — and financial service companies. According to developers, it was built more cheaply and quickly than previous offshore wind projects, with its turbines and cables installed in less than six months. While Britain’s new energy secretary, Ed Davey, called the project the “newest, biggest, and fastest built jewel” in the UK’s offshore wind sector, the project will be dwarfed by the 630-turbine London Array off Kent, which is expected to be online by the end of the year.