On the February 9th, 2012, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, located in the East Irish Sea, will be inaugurated by Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change The Rt. Hon. Chris Huhne, MP.
Barrow-in-Furness Town Hall will be the gravitation point for this grand celebration marking a milestone to the Cumbria County and expansion of renewable generation in the UK having the potential to power more than 320,000 British homes with carbon neutral electricity.
Walney 2 came on stream November 1st, 2011, and was installed within only 5 months and 13 days. This is the fastest construction of an offshore wind farm ever carried out by any offshore wind power operator. The last turbine blade was installed on 22 September.
The Walney Offshore Windfarms
The Walney Offshore Windfarms project is located approximately 15km west of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria. The project consists of Walney 1 and Walney 2 each with 51 – 3.6MW turbines, giving a total capacity of the Walney project of 367.2MW. The rotor diameter of the turbines is 107m for Walney 1 and 120m for Walney 2, with a maximum height of 150m from blade tip to sea level. The total area of the development is some 73km2.
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Offshore WIND staff, January 23, 2012; Image: dongenergy