London Array
| London Array offshore wind farm | |
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The London Array under construction in 2009.
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 Location of London Array offshore wind farm in England
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| Country | England, United Kingdom |
| Location | 7 mi (11 km) off North Foreland, Kent |
| Coordinates | 51°37′34″N 1°29′42″E / 51.626°N 1.495°ECoordinates: 51°37′34″N 1°29′42″E / 51.626°N 1.495°E |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | March 2011 |
| Commission date | April 2013 |
| Construction cost | £1.8 billion (€2.2 billion) |
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Wind farm:
Transmission assets:
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| Wind farm | |
| Type | Offshore |
| Site area | 122 km2 |
| Max. water depth | 25 m |
| Distance from shore | 20 km |
| Hub height | 87 m |
| Rotor diameter | 120 m |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 175 × 3.6 MW |
| Make and model | Siemens Wind Power SWT-3.6-120 |
| Units cancelled | 166 × 3.6 MW |
| Nameplate capacity | 630 MW |
| Capacity factor | 45.3% (2015) |
| 2015 output | 2,500 GW·h |
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Website www |
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Wind farm:
Transmission assets:
The London Array is a 175 turbine 630 MW Round 2 offshore wind farm located 20 km off the Kent coast in the outer Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom. It is the largest offshore wind farm in the world, and the largest wind farm in Europe by megawatt capacity.
Construction of phase 1 of the wind farm began in March 2011 and was completed by mid 2013, being formally inaugurated by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron on 4 July 2013.
The second phase of the project was refused planning consent in 2014 due to concerns on the impact to sea birds.
The wind farm site is more than 20 kilometres (12 mi) off the North Foreland on the Kent coast in the area between Long Sand and Kentish Knock, between Margate in Kent and Clacton in Essex. The site has water depths of no more than 25 m and is mostly away from shipping lanes.
The first phase consisted of 175 Siemens Wind Power SWT-3.6 turbines and two offshore substations, giving a wind farm with a peak rated power of 630 MW. Each turbine and offshore substation is erected on a monopile foundation, and connected together by 210 km (130 mi) of 33 kV array cables. The two offshore substations are connected to an onshore substation at Cleve Hill (near Graveney) on the north Kent coast, by four 150 kV subsea export cables, in total 220 km (140 mi). It is named after London because the power goes to the London grid.
The smaller Thanet Wind Farm is to the south of it.
The array is intended to reduce annual CO2 emissions by about 900,000 tons, equal to the emissions of 300,000 passenger cars.
In 2001 environmental studies identified areas of the outer Thames Estuary as potential sites for offshore wind farm; the Department of Trade and Industry published the paper Future Offshore — A Strategic Framework for the Offshore Wind Industry, which identified the outer Thames Estuary as one of three potential areas for future wind farm development (Round 2 wind farms). The Crown Estate awarded a 50-year lease to London Array Ltd. (a consortium of E.ON UK Renewables, Shell WindEnergy, and CORE Limited.) in December 2003. A planning application was submitted in 2005, which was approved in December 2006. Planning permission for the onshore electricity substation was received in November 2007.
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Wikipedia