World’s Largest Wind Farm Constructed

Major construction work on the London Array - the world's largest wind farm - has come to an end, with its 175th turbine now in place.

Involving wind turbine construction and erection on an unprecedented scale, the London Array build programme has been taking place throughout 2012.

Over the past 12 months, besides the 175 wind turbines, 178 array cables have also been installed, alongside 84 foundations and a trio of export cables. At the present moment, 43 of the 175 turbines are up and running, feeding power into the national grid.

It's expected that all 175 blade systems will be turning by around April 2013. DONG Energy is this project's primary partner, with a 50 per cent involvement, while also involved are E.ON and Masdar, with 30 per cent and 20 per cent shareholdings, respectively.

London Array Build Programme

DONG Energy makes the point that the London Array build programme has run to schedule, in spite of various technical issues and delays caused by bad weather. Such a result, it says, represents ‘the culmination of a huge amount of effort and coordination by everyone involved in the project.'

"Having the final turbine installed is another landmark in this flagship project for the UK and for DONG Energy", explained the company's head of UK operations, Benj Sykes. "The London Array will soon be the largest operational offshore wind farm in the world - building offshore wind farms of this size and larger in the future allows us to harvest the advantages of scale and is an important element of our strategy to drive down the cost of energy."

London Array Wind Farm

When working at full power, the London Array wind farm will produce 630 megawatts and it's that level of generation that will place it ahead of all the world's other turbine arrays and redefine the UK's position on the renewable energy stage.

"Today is another significant milestone for London Array and the UK as the installation of the final turbine brings us one step closer to the completion of the world's largest offshore wind farm", added E.ON UK's CEO, Tony Cocker. "We are proud to mark this achievement and I pay tribute to all involved in the construction to date. I look forward to seeing London Array's contribution to the UK's low carbon energy mix for many years to come."

Image copyright DONG Energy