UK Offshore Wind Farm to Generate 500 MW

Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited (GGOWL), an Airtricity and Fluor joint venture, received planning permission to build an offshore wind farm to be located 25km off the coast of Suffolk in the UK. GGOWL also received permission to connect the wind farm to the electricity grid via a substation at Sizewell from Suffolk Coastal District Council. The planned wind farm will produce 500MW of electricity via 140 wind turbines. It will be the first UK offshore wind farm to be built outside territorial waters and will provide green electricity for more than 415,000 homes. The east coast of England is a key area for offshore wind projects with approximately 6.5 GW of capacity currently planned out of a total of 10 GW for the whole of the UK. Receipt of planning consent allows the joint venture to progress the project design and to structure the project financing arrangements as well as the power purchase agreements that are required to allow the project to achieve financial close which is scheduled for second half of 2007. GGOWL is already focusing on pre-construction activities: Fluor has been appointed as Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor. The procurement process for turbines and other equipment has […]

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