World's largest offshore wind farm inaugurated

The world's largest offshore wind power plant, London Array, in which the UAE owns a share, was inaugurated today and its 175 wind turbines went operational. The wind power plant owned, developed and built by a consortium consisting of Dong Energy, E.ON and Abu Dhabi's Masdar, Abu Dhabi-owned clean energy company, has a total capacity of 630 megawatts (MW) and will generate enough power to supply 500,000 British households with clean electricity. London Array will reduce annual CO2 emissions by approximately 900,000 tons, which equals the emissions of 300,000 passenger cars, according to Siemens' press release. The London Array offshore wind farm is located in the Thames estuary, approximately 20 kilometers off the Kent and Essex coast. Siemens supplied and installed the 175 wind turbines, each with a rotor diameter of 120 meters and a rating of 3.6 MW. In addition, the company supplied the grid connection with one onshore and two offshore substations in the North Sea. The electricity generated by the wind turbines is bundled at sea and transported via high-voltage submarine cables to the coast. The wind farm will be operated and maintained from a purpose-built base at Ramsgate Port. "London Array is the world's largest offshore wind power plant and marks a milestone in the development of offshore wind power. This project underscores the leading position of Siemens in this attractive growth market", declared Peter Loscher, President and CEO of Siemens AG on the occasion of the opening ceremony in Margate, Great Britain. Siemens says it has already installed more than 1,100 wind turbines at sea with a total capacity of 3.4 GW, over two thirds of which are located in Great Britain. In total, it has 4.6 GW of offshore capacity in its order books. Including London Array, Siemens has also implemented five grid connections in Great Britain.