Gunfleet Sands wind farm off the Essex coast has been officially inaugurated by DONG Energy. Located 7km south-east of Clacton-on-Sea, the wind farm consists of two phases, Gunfleet Sands 1, with 30 turbines and Gunfleet Sands 2, with 18 turbines and will supply sufficient electricity to power 125,000 homes.
Capacity of each turbine is 3.6mW, giving a total capacity of the wind farm of 172mW. With completion of the Gunfleet Sands project, the UK has now installed more than 1GW of offshore wind power, a considerable contribution to the domestic UK target of reducing CO emissions.
"The United Kingdom has a very ambitious plan for expanding the production of renewable energy and a target of making green energy and reliability of supply go hand in hand," said DONG Energy CEO Anders Eldrup. "DONG Energy is the market leader in terms of building offshore wind farms, and we are therefore pleased to be able to contribute to the expansion of renewable energy."
And Energy Minister Charles Hendry added: “Our island is surrounded by some of the windiest coast in the world and that’s a resource we’ve got to use. I want to make sure we grab all the opportunities the rapidly expanding offshore wind industry has to offer, and that offshore wind power can come of age under this government.”
