WORLD’S BIGGEST WIND SET TO GO

World's largest wind farm to open off Kent coast
19 September 2010 (Kent News)

"…[UK] Energy secretary Chris Huhne will unveil the [Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, made up of 100 Vestas V90 turbines]…12km off [County Kent, with] Øystein Løseth, president of Vattenfall, the Swedish power company behind the development…It will be a landmark moment for the renewable energy industry…[T]wo weeks ago the latest statistics from the National Grid revealed around 10 per cent of electricity was generated by UK wind farms.

"…[Thanet] will have a total capacity of 300 megawatts, generating enough electricity to supply heat and light to more than 200,000 homes…Vattenfall began work on the £800 million development in 2008 and the last turbine was installed in June this year…"

Connected to the UK grid by Siemens at Richborough (click to enlarge)

"The wind farm, located in water depths of 20-25m and covering an area of 35 sq km, will boost UK offshore wind capacity by more than 30 per cent."

Ready for its close-up. (click to enlarge)

"…Data from the National Grid showed [a historical record] 10 per cent of electricity delivered to consumers was generated by the farms."

Maria McCaffery, CEO, Renewable UK:] "We are expecting to see the contribution of electricity from wind gradually increase over the next decade to around 30 per cent…These figures underpin the strong contention that renewable energy - and wind energy in particular - is no longer alternative. It is on the scale and growing rapidly…If we added together all the wind energy projects in planning to the projects already existing and about to come on stream, we would be three-quarters of the way to reaching our 2020 targets…If we count in the potential of offshore wind, the plan of turning the UK into a net energy exporter does not seem unlikely."