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| First UK offshore wind farm outside territorial waters wins consent Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited (GGOWL), an Airtricity and Fluor joint venture, received planning permission for the construction of an offshore wind farm to be located 25km off the coast of Suffolk in the Outer Thames Estuary. In addition, GGOWL recently received permission to connect the wind farm to the electricity grid via a substation at Sizewell from Suffolk Coastal District Council. The planned wind farm will produce 500MW of electricity via 140 wind turbines sited around the Inner Gabbard and The Galloper sandbanks. It will be the first UK offshore wind farm to be built outside territorial waters and will provide green electricity for more than 415,000 homes equivalent to the domestic demand of Suffolk. The Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm project will make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emission by almost 1.5 million tonnes per annum which is the equivalent of removing 350,000 cars from the road every year. Receipt of planning consent allows the joint venture to progress the project design and to structure the project financing arrangements as well as the power purchase agreements that are required to allow the project to achieve financial close which is scheduled for second half of 2007. GGOWL is already focusing on pre-construction activities: Fluor has been appointed as Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor. The procurement process for turbines and other equipment has commenced, with offshore construction planned to commence in 2009. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |