UK Approves The World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm

The UK’s Business and Energy Secretary, Greg Clark, approved on Tuesday the development of the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea Project Two, which will take up a total investment of £6 billion (US$ 7.79 billion) if built to full capacity.

The wind farm -- which is being developed by a unit of Denmark-based DONG Energy -- will be able to deliver up to 1,800 megawatts of low carbon energy to some 1.8 million homes in the UK.

The wind farm, which will be located some 55 miles off the Yorkshire coast, will operate with up to 300 wind turbines.

Secretary Clark said: “Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we are determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy, which means jobs and economic growth right across the country. We expect 10GW of offshore wind installed by the end of this decade and could see up to 10GW of new offshore wind in the 2020s as costs come down.”

DONG Energy, in turn, said that the development consent it had received was very welcome. The consent covers the whole project including turbines, foundations, offshore and onshore substations, array cables and export cables.

The go-ahead to the development of the huge wind farm comes just weeks after the UK took more time to review the Hinkley Point nuclear project. The board of France’s EDF, the project’s builder, had just given the go-ahead to this controversial project, with the directors split on the advisability of the project. This reluctant approval, already delayed, was to have been the last hurdle prior to the start of construction.

The Hinkley Point plant, a joint UK-French-Chinese venture, has been at the center of an ongoing debate in the UK over the future of the country’s energy infrastructure, its relations with China and its place in the world post-Brexit.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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