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Wind Farm Double Size of Manhattan Unveiled in Irish Sea

Wind Farm Double Size of Manhattan Unveiled in Irish Sea

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Orsted A/S unveiled the world’s largest offshore wind farm, an 87-turbine complex in the Irish Sea covering an area more than double the size of Manhattan.

The Walney Extension off the coast of northwest England has a generating capacity of 659 megawatts and is capable of powering 590,000 homes, according to Danish company Orsted, the world’s biggest developer of offshore wind farms.

MHI Vestas Offshore Wind A/S and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA provided the turbines for the project that began construction in August 2015. The Vestas 8-megawatt turbines stand 195 meters tall while the 7-megawatt version by Siemens is 154 meters from sea level to blade tip.

Largest Offshore Global Wind Farms by Capacity

Offshore project Capacity (MW) No. of turbines Country
Walney Extension 659 87 U.K.
London Array 630 175 U.K.
Gemini 600 750 Netherlands
Gode I & II 582 97 Germany
Gwynt Y Mor 576 160 U.K.
Race Bank 573 91 U.K.
Greater Gabbard 504 140 U.K.
Dudgeon 402 67 U.K.
Veja Mate 402 67 Germany
Rampion 400.2 116 U.K.

Source: Renewables U.K.

At 145 square kilometers, Walney overtakes another U.K. offshore wind farm, London Array, as the world’s largest. It uses less than half the number of turbines over a larger area to generate more power.

Orsted sold 50 percent of Walney to a group of Danish pension funds in November 2017. The U.K. currently operates 1,837 offshore wind turbines with an operational capacity of 7.1 gigawatts, according to trade association Renewable U.K.

Source: Bloomberg L.P.
Anand Gupta Editor - EQ Int'l Media Network

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