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£150m Kent wind farm project to power 35,000 homes each year

A Swedish energy company has started work on a £150m extension to a wind farm off the coast of Kent.

Vattenfall has started construction on 15 new turbines in its Kentish Flats wind farm about 8km off the coast of Whitstable and Herne Bay.

The project, which will be the only wind farm built offshore in UK waters this year, is expected to be completed this summer.

The wind farm, which will be increased in size by 50%, has been operational since 2005 and once complete, it will produce enough electricity to power 35,000 homes a year .

Project director Matthew Green said: “A number of large vessels will be offshore Herne Bay and Whitstable this summer as we add 15 turbines to the existing 30 at Kentish Flats.

“We hope local people will be able to follow the construction and take a great interest in what is a challenging and complex engineering exercise.

“It doesn’t get much tougher than this: piling foundations 30 metres into the seabed; installing 139.6 metre tall turbines weighing 600 tonnes over 8km off the coast; and, completing on schedule and to budget with, most importantly, maximum emphasis on safety.”

Piers Guy, Vattenfall’s UK country manager, said: “It’s important the UK pipeline keeps delivering – and Kentish Flats Extension does that in a modest way – so that British suppliers can maintain a foothold in the sector and help capture the significant economic opportunities that go with it.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .