Case study: renewable energy provision in the 'London Array' wind farm
The 'London Array' wind farm is located 20 km off the Kent coast in the outer Thames estuary, between the towns of Margate in Kent and Clacton in Essex. It was named after London because the power produced goes into the London electricity grid. It is made up of 175 turbines generating 630 megawatts (MW) of electricity, and at the time of its construction it was the largest offshore wind farm in the world. It is the largest wind farm in Europe by electricity output.
Construction began in March 2011, and it was completed in 2013. A second phase to the project involving the addition of 166 more turbines (raising the output to 1,000 MW) did not gain planning consent in 2014. Funding for the project came from E.ON, UK (30%), DONG, Denmark (25%), Masdar, Abu Dhabi (20%) and La Caisse, Canada (25%).
Advantages
- Clean energy - no waste or pollution.
- Relatively cheap to produce (after set-up costs).
- Renewable.
- Significant energy produced (650 MW is enough to power 0.5 million homes, or two thirds of the homes in Kent).
- Reduce carbon emissions by around 900,000 tonnes (equivalent to 300,000 cars).
- Helps UK meet EU target of 15% renewable energy by 2020.
- Local job opportunities (during construction and also post-construction in maintenance roles, services etc).
Disadvantages
- Lots of turbines needed to produce significant amount of energy.
- Unpredictable - intermittent production is 'non-dispatchable' meaning electricity from wind is difficult to store.
- Disturbance to marine life.
- Disturbance to sea bird life (reason for 2014 refusal).
- Disturbance to local fishing grounds.