World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Opens off UK Coast

Today, The Thanet Wind Farm began operation off Southeastern coast of Britain.   To date, the wind farm is the largest wind farm ever constructed and consists of 100 380-foot turbines covering an area of 13.5 square miles and is located approximately 7.4 miles off Foreness Point, the most eastern part of Kent, UK.

The project was funded by Vattenfall Group, one of Britain’s biggest wind power operators and Europe’s fifth largest generator of electricity, and cost approximately 780 million pounds or $1.2 billion.  The company is investing heavily in offshore wind, constructing nine wind farms in six countries between 2009 and 2011.

The Thanet Wind Farm, with 300MW capacity, will provide enough electricity to supply more than 200,000 homes annually, and boost the UK offshore wind capacity by more than 30%.  The project has taken just over two years to complete and the wind farm is expected to operate for at least 25 years and be serviced by 20 technicians.

Click through for some more photos and video explaining a little more:

[Images and video provided by Vattenfall Group]