RWE npower renewables welcomes today’s announcement that consent has been awarded for the turbines at Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm.
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has granted consent for up to 288 offshore wind turbines to be located off the East Coast of England. The project has an installed capacity of up to 1,200MW – enough energy to power up to 900,000 UK households with home-grown renewable energy.
Jacob Hain, Triton Knoll Project Manager said: “We are delighted with this announcement. We believed that Triton Knoll was a very well sited project. Today’s decision by the Secretary of State endorses this.”
The development could attract billions of pounds of much needed investment whilst also creating hundreds of jobs and making a substantial contribution to the UK’s clean energy supply.
Jacob Hain said: “This is a crucial milestone and means one step closer to being able to deliver this much needed energy infrastructure. Today’s decision sends another positive message to the industry about the growth and potential of renewables in the UK.
“However in order to realise these ambitious offshore projects, the Government’s Electricity Market Reform must deliver a regulatory framework which is bankable to attract the required levels of investment.”
The consent award is for the ‘offshore array’ which includes the offshore turbines, met masts, offshore substations, buried cables and a mobile facility for operations and maintenance.
The developers, RWE npower renewables will now examine the details of the consent and continue working on the planning application for the onshore electrical infrastructure needed to transfer the renewable energy generated to the national grid. These applications are expected to be submitted to relevant Local authorities in 2014.
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Press release, July 11, 2013; Image: rwe