London Array signs up £1.5bn worth of contracts
Elaine Brass
15th December 2009
Two British based companies have won part of the £1.7 billion (€2 billion) worth of contracts signed this week to start work on the world's largest offshore wind farm, the London Array, in the Thames Estuary.
Phase One of the construction involves the installation of 175 offshore wind turbines from early 2011 and Hartlepool company, JDR Cable Systems, has been given the contract to supply the 210 kilometres of 33kV array linking cable. Manchester-based Siemens Transmission and Distribution Ltd, meanwhile, will install electrical systems on the onshore and offshore substations.
The biggest contract – worth around £0.89 billion (€1 billion) – though has been awarded to Siemens Wind Power to supply the 175 turbines.
The London Array is made up of a consortium of three international companies, DONG Energy, E.ON and Masdar, and once completed will be a one gigawatt (GW), 341 turbine wind farm, 12 miles off the Kent and Essex coast. It will be capable of powering a quarter of Greater London homes and meet seven per cent of the Government’s target of 15 per cent of all electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
Dr Frank Mastiaux, chief executive of E.ON Climate & Renewables, said: “Signing these contracts is a significant milestone for the London Array project, which will be a vital scheme as we look to take renewables from being a niche power player to being a significant, vital part of the UK’s energy landscape.”
The London Array consortium plans to complete the first phase of construction by 2012.