Just of the coast of Kent county in southeast England, lies what is now the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Officially opened at the end of last week, the new farm is expected to provide enough power for 200,000 homes.
At a cost of nearly $1.2 billion, the wind farm consists of 100 380ft turbines. Owned and operated by Swedish energy company Vattenfall, the farm is all part of the UK’s green initiative, which hopes to see it raise the amount of renewable energy used up to 15 percent by 2020. Currently, just three percent of the energy used in the UK comes from renewable sources.
“We are in a unique position to become a world leader in this industry,” UK Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said. “We are an island nation and I firmly believe we should be harnessing our wind, wave, and tidal resources to the maximum. I know that there is still more to do to bring forward the large sums of investment we want to see in low-carbon energy in the UK, and we as a government are committed to playing our part.”
The Kent wind farm joins approximately 250 others operating in the UK, which account for over 2,900 turbines in total.
Via BBC.
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