Walney 2 offshore wind farm has today, 1 November 2011, started delivering CO2-free electricity to the UK’s national grid, with electricity now being generated from the first of its 51 turbines.
Walney 1 was fully operational May 2011 and Walney 2 is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2011, making Walney the world’s largest offshore wind farm, with a total capacity of 367.2MW of renewable energy production. This is enough to power around 320,000 UK homes or one-and-a-half times the number of homes in Cumbria.
DONG Energy (50.1%), SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) (25.1%) and OPW (24.8%), a company jointly owned by Dutch pension administrator PGGM and Ampère Equity Fund (managed by Triodos Investment Management), are the companies behind Walney Windfarms Limited, with DONG Energy as the leading partner in the construction and operational phases of the projects.
Anders Eldrup, CEO at DONG Energy , said:
“Walney 2 is the world’s fastest ever installation of an offshore wind farm and this accomplishment underlines DONG Energy’s position as a strong market leader within offshore wind. We developed our techniques for faster and more cost efficient installation methods in the challenging conditions in the Irish Sea. This is an important step in the continuing drive to reduce the cost of construction of offshore wind farms.”
Colin Hood, SSE’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “This is a major milestone in the development of the Walney offshore wind farms and it demonstrates the excellent progress being made on the project. As the UK’s leading generator of electricity from renewable sources, SSE is committed to helping to increase further the amount of renewable electricity generation in the UK, and the export of electricity at Walney is a step towards achieving this.”
[mappress]
Source: dongenergy, November 01, 2011