London, England February 9, 2012

World’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm consolidates UK’s Global Lead
London, England February 9, 2012

“Major step forward for wind industry” confirming future ambitions
Walney Offshore has capacity to power 320,000 homes
Thousands of jobs to come in UK factories making offshore turbines

RenewableUK, the trade association representing the wind, wave and tidal energy industry, has welcomed the official opening of the world’s largest offshore wind farm by the Energy Secretary Ed Davey.

Walney Offshore Windfarms off the coast of Cumbria (consisting of 2 projects, Walney 1 and Walney 2), has the capacity to power for 320,000 homes.

Maria McCaffery MBE, RenewableUK’s Chief Executive, who attended the opening ceremony, said: “The inauguration of the world’s largest offshore wind farm is a major step forward for the UK’s wind industry. It consolidates our global lead in offshore wind, and confirms the scale of our ambitions for the future. The Government is calling for a significant increase in the deployment of offshore wind over the course of this decade. Projects such as Walney demonstrate exactly how this will be achieved.

“With the opening of Walney, the UK now has more than 1.7 gigawatts of wind capacity installed offshore – enough to power more than 950,000 homes. A further 7.4GW is under construction, approved or in planning. Beyond that, the next round of offshore wind farms, Round Three, will add a further 32GW, giving us more than 40GW before 2030 – more than half the UK’s current capacity to generate all electricity”.

“To supply the turbines that will be needed for the massive expansion in offshore wind, multinational companies have already submitted plans to build factories in the UK which will employ thousands of people. Nearly 90,000 people will be working in the sector by 2021″.

RenewableUK is the trade and professional body for the UK wind and marine renewables industries. Formed in 1978, and with more than 700 corporate members, RenewableUK is the leading renewable energy trade association in the UK. Wind has been the world’s fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue with falling costs of wind energy and the urgent international need to tackle CO2 emissions to prevent climate change.

The Walney Offshore Windfarms project is located approximately 15km west of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria. The project consists of Walney 1 and Walney 2 each with 51 – 3.6MW turbines, giving a total capacity of the Walney project of 367.2MW. The rotor diameter of the turbines is 107m for Walney 1 and 120m for Walney 2, with a maximum height of 150m from blade tip to sea level. The total area of the development is some 73km2.

Source: RenewableUK

For more information on: RenewableUK

Source:

For more information on: