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This image shows wind turbines near Whitstable and Herne Bay on the Kentish coast. The U.K. has become a world leader in offshore wind.
The final turbine for the Nordsee One offshore wind farm has been installed and commercial operations are set to commence by the end of this year.
Tim Kittelhake, managing director and COO of Nordsee One, said in an announcement at the end of last week that turbine installation had been completed within seven months. The site is located in the North Sea, around 40 kilometers to the north of the island of Juist.
The scale of the project is significant, with the turbines measuring approximately 150 meters from sea level to blade tip.
According to Nordsee One its 54 turbines will generate, on average, 1.2 billion kilowatt hours per year and supply the equivalent of around 400,000 average homes with green electricity. This will help to save more than one million tons of CO2 when compared with a “conventional” coal fired plant.
“Most of the turbines are already feeding green electricity into the grid,” Pierre Lestienne, managing director and CFO of Nordsee One, said in a statement. “We are very pleased with our progress so far. With another project milestone behind us, we remain focused on advancing the project into commercial operation.”
Europe is something of a world leader in offshore wind. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, the U.K. is home to the largest offshore wind market in the world, closely followed by Germany.
Earlier this month, Dong Energy announced it had been awarded a contract to construct the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea Project Two, off the east coast of England. The development will have enough capacity to power more than 1.3 million homes in the U.K.
