London Array

London Array Offshore Wind Farm
Location of London Array Offshore Wind Farm
Country	England, United Kingdom
Location	7 miles (11 km) off North Foreland, Kent
Coordinates	51°38′38″N 01°33′13″E / 51.64389°N 1.55361°E / 51.64389; 1.55361Coordinates: 51°38′38″N 01°33′13″E / 51.64389°N 1.55361°E / 51.64389; 1.55361
Status	Under construction
Construction began	March 2011
Commission date	End of 2012 (expected)
Construction cost	€2.2 billion
Owner(s)	DONG Energy (50%) E.ON UK Renewables (30%) Masdar (20%)
Developer(s)	London Array Limited
Turbine information
Turbines	341 x 3.6MW
Manufacturer(s)	Siemens Wind Power
Wind farm information
Distance from shore	7 mi (11.3 km)
Power generation information
Maximum capacity	1,000 MW
As of 8 March 2011

The London Array is an offshore wind farm under construction in the outer Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom. With 1,000 megawatt (MW) nameplate capacity, it is expected to become the world's largest offshore wind farm.^[1] The site is 17.77 miles (28.60 km) off the North Foreland on the Kent coast in the area of Long Sand and Kentish Knock,^[2] and will cover 90 square miles (230 km²) between Margate in Kent and Clacton in Essex. The first foundation was installed in March 2011^[3] and phase I is expected to be completed end 2012 at a cost of €2.2 billion and will deliver a capacity of 630MW.

Description

The first phase consists of 175 SWT-3.6 turbines and two offshore substations, giving a wind farm with a peak rated power of 630 MW.^[4] The turbines and offshore substations are each being erected on a monopile, and will be connected together by 210 kilometres (130 mi) of 33 kV array cables. The substations will be connected to a new onshore substation near Graveney (near Faversham) on the north Kent coast, by 220 kilometres (140 mi) of 150 kV subsea export cable.^[5]

Contractors

Turbines will be supplied by Siemens Wind Power.^[4] Their foundations are built by the joint venture between Per Aarsleff and Bilfinger Berger Ingenieurbau. The same company supply and install monopiles.^[5] Generators will be installed by MPI and A2SEA by using an installation vessel TIV MPI Adventure and a jack-up barge Sea Worker.^[6] Two offshore substations will be designed, fabricated and installed by Future Energy, a joint venture between Fabricom, Iemants and Geosea, while electrical systems and onshore substation work will be undertaken by Siemens Transmission & Distribution. The subsea export cable will supply by Nexans and array cables by JDR Cable Systems. The array cables and the export cables will be installed by VSMC.^[5]

Developer

Ownership is 50% DONG Energy, 30% E.ON UK Renewables and 20% Masdar.^[7] The wind farm was planned to be built by London Array Limited, a consortium of Shell WindEnergy Ltd, E.ON UK Renewables and DONG Energy.^[8] In May 2008, Shell announced that it was pulling out of the project.^[9] It was announced in July 2008 that E.ON UK and DONG Energy would buy Shell's stake.^[10] Subsequently on 16 October 2008, London Array announced the Abu Dhabi-based Masdar would join E.ON as a joint venture party in the scheme. Under the agreement, Masdar purchased 40% of E.ON's half share of the scheme, giving Masdar a 20% stake in the project overall.^[11]

Financial support and timetable

In March 2009, the backers agreed on an initial investment of €2.2 billion.^[12] Offshore work was due to start in February 2011 and the proposed completion date for the first stage is in 2012. The second stage (bringing the revised total to 217 turbines) will add enough capacity to generate 1,000 MW for 750,000 homes.^[11][13]

Financing of phase 1 have been achieved through the European Investment Bank and Danish Export Credit Fund with £250 million.^[7]

See also

• Thanet Offshore Wind Project — a 300 MW completed offshore wind farm near Thanet
• Greater Gabbard wind farm — a 500 MW consented offshore wind farm 23 km east of Felixstowe
• Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm - a 172 MW operational offshore wind farm 7km east of Clacton-on-Sea
• Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm — a 90 MW operational offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary
• Wind power in the United Kingdom

References

External links

• Official site

v t e Wind power in the United Kingdom Energy in the United Kingdom · Renewable energy in the United Kingdom Companies Airtricity · Ecotricity · Npower Renewables · Siemens Wind Power · Vestas Wind farms Onshore Arecleoch · Black Law · Braes of Doune · Cefn Croes · Clyde · Crystal Rig · Farr · Hadyard Hill · Scout Moor · Slieve Rushen · Whitelee Offshore Barrow · Beatrice · Blyth · Burbo Bank · Gunfleet Sands · Kentish Flats · Lynn and Inner Dowsing · North Hoyle · Ormonde · Rhyl Flats · Robin Rigg · Scroby Sands · Thanet · Walney Installation vessels MPI Adventure · MPI Resolution Other North Sea Offshore Grid · Wind power in Scotland Category ·  Commons

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