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UK grants consent for 750 MW offshore wind farm

Power Engineering

3 December 2008 - Npower Renewables, the UK fully owned subsidiary of RWE Innogy, has been granted consent by the Department of Energy and Climate Change to build and operate the 750 MW Gwynt y Môr wind farm off the coast of North Wales.

The wind farm, situated 13km out to sea, will be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world and will be capable of generating enough power to supply the average annual needs of around 500 000 homes.

The wind farm design comprises an array of offshore wind turbines each with an installed capacity of between 3 to 5 MW. Depending on the tides, the wind turbines would stand in water depths of between 12m and 34m, requiring a hub height of up to 100m and a rotor diameter of around 130 m.

The individual wind turbines would be built between 350m and 1000m apart to ensure optimum wind exploitation. Currently, it is anticipated that offshore construction works could begin in 2011 with final commissioning in 2014.