E.ON has unveiled that its Humber Gateway wind farm, located off the East Yorkshire coast, will consist of a 73 turbine array that will generate up to 219MW of electricity, enough energy to power up to 170,000 homes.
Dr. Tony Cocker, CEO of E.ON UK, said: “This isn’t just an important announcement for E.ON, but is also a significant announcement for the UK. Increasing the proportion of electricity we generate from low carbon, renewable sources is a vital part of meeting the energy challenges we all face.”
Prime Minister, David Cameron , said: “I welcome E.ON’s significant investment, which is a vote of confidence in renewable energy and in the UK market. It will create a thousand jobs in the next few years, spearhead development of the UK’s fast growing offshore wind supply chain and strengthen links between the UK and Germany in renewables and grid.”
Humber Gateway will be located 8km off the East Yorkshire coast, just north of the mouth of the river Humber. Further works at the site will begin in March with construction of the onshore substation, with a view to completing the project in Spring 2015.
The project aims to create up to 1,000 jobs during construction and a further 30 roles to operate and maintain the wind farm when it is operational.
E.ON is committed to growing its offshore wind fleet across Europe and this announcement forms part of a €2 billion investment programme in offshore wind, encompassing Humber Gateway (219 MW) off the coast of the UK, Amrumbank (288 MW) off the coast of Germany and Kårehamn (48MW) off the coast of Sweden.
Amrumbank will be E.ON’s first commercial offshore wind farm in Germany and will use Siemens 3.6 MW turbines. Humber Gateway and Kårehamn will use new Vestas V112 3.0MW turbines.
These offshore projects are part of a €7 billion investment programme over the next five years, where E.ON will be creating industrial-scale wind, solar and biomass power plants.
E.ON is committed to being a leading player in the offshore wind industry. It already owns and operates three offshore wind farms in UK waters. The UK’s first offshore wind farm near Blyth in Northumberland, Scroby Sands off the coast of Great Yarmouth and Robin Rigg in the Solway Firth.
E.ON is currently carrying out detailed environmental studies on its proposed Rampion site off the Sussex Coast and is also a partner in the London Array, which will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm when complete.
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Offshore WIND staff, December 16, 2011; Image: e.on