The British government has approved the construction of a wind farm off the East Anglia coast of what will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm powering at least 820,000 homes.
Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said the approval was the go ahead for the construction of the 1200-megawatt (MW) East Anglia One offshore wind farm project, which is expected to begin generating electricity from 2019.
Reuters Newsagency reports that based off the coast of Suffolk, the project is a 50/50 joint venture between Sweden’s state-owned utility Vattenfall and Scottish Power Renewables, a subsidiary of Spanish energy firm Iberdrola.
“The East Anglia One offshore wind farm that is expected to support almost 2900 jobs and bring over US$873 million of investment into the UK’s economy has today been given consent from the government to go ahead,” DECC said in a statement.
Vattenfall and Scottish Power Renewables said that the project would have up to 325 turbines with an installed capacity of 1200MW.
Reuters reports initial plans are for just 240 turbines which DECC said would still generate enough electricity to power approximately 820,000 homes.
When completed it would be the largest offshore wind farm in the world, taking the top spot from the London Array, which currently has 175 turbines.
“East Anglia and the rest of the UK have a lot to gain from this development,” said Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey.
“The project has the potential to inject millions of pounds into the local and national economies, and support thousands of green jobs,” Mr Davey added.
DECC said that construction work was expected to start in 2017.
Trade body RenewableUK hailed the decision as “a boost for the UK’s offshore wind sector”.
Chief executive Maria McCaffery said: “This excellent news provides a huge confidence boost for the UK’s entire offshore wind sector.
“Projects like this will help us to maintain our global lead.
“It’s heartening to see government backing this part of our industry extremely proactively. Today’s news marks the start of what is set to be one of the world’s major green energy infrastructure developments,” she added.
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