The UK’s largest offshore windfarm has been officially opened by David Cameron.
The 175-turbine London Array, situated in the outer Thames Estuary off the Kent and Essex coasts, went fully operational in April.
The Prime MInister hailed the success of the £2.2billion project, a joint venture between E.ON, Dong and UAE clean energy firm Masdar.
“This is a great day for Britain and a big win for renewable energy,” he said this morning.
“London Array shows you can build large scale renewable energy projects right here in Britain. This is because when it comes to clean energy, the UK has one of the clearest investment climates globally”.
The project, which will generate 630megawatts for around half a million homes – is expected to cut down on around 900,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year.
The first power from the facility was generated in October last year, with the remaining turbines installed earlier this Spring to complete the project.
“London Array is a magnificent feat of green engineering in a field in which Britain is the global leader, as we have more offshore wind capacity installed than the rest of the world put together,” said RenewableUK’s chief executive Maria McCaffery.
“We’re about to witness a massive expansion in the number of people we employ in the wind industry onshore and offshore, from about 12,000 now to 76,000 by the dawn of the next decade, as long as Government remains supportive.”
Brent Cheshire, UK chairman of Dong Energy, said London Array marks a “real milestone” towards cutting the cost of offshore wind.
He said: “As projects get even bigger and move further offshore, we must continue to harvest the advantages of scale to bring down the costs.”
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