Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm

Last updated

Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm
Kentish Flats 185488383 b48a2c2dcf o.jpg
Vestas V90 Wind Turbine Kentish Flats
Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm
Country England, United Kingdom
Location North Sea off the coast of Kent, South East England
Coordinates 51°27′36″N1°5′24″E / 51.46000°N 1.09000°E / 51.46000; 1.09000 Coordinates: 51°27′36″N1°5′24″E / 51.46000°N 1.09000°E / 51.46000; 1.09000
StatusOperational
Construction began
  • August 2004
Commission date 2005
Owner(s) Vattenfall
Wind farm
Type Offshore
Max. water depth3–5 m (10–16 ft)
Distance from shore5.5 mi (8.9 km)
Hub height70 m (230 ft)
Rotor diameter90 m (300 ft)
Site area10 km2 (3.9 sq mi)
Power generation
Units operational45
Make and model Vestas V90-3MW / V112-3.3MW
Nameplate capacity 139.5 MW
Capacity factor 30%
External links
Commons Related media on Commons

The Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm is a wind farm located off the coast of Kent, England on a large, flat and shallow plateau just outside the main Thames shipping lanes. The wind farm is operated by Vattenfall.

Contents

Location

The distance from the nearest wind turbine to Whitstable is 6.2 miles (10.0 km). The nearest turbine is 5.5 miles (8.9 km) away from Herne Bay.

Installation

Turbines at Kentish Flats, Kent, England, with the WWII gun platforms visible towards the right. Fort and turbines.JPG
Turbines at Kentish Flats, Kent, England, with the WWII gun platforms visible towards the right.
Satellite image of the Thames Estuary with Kentish Flats (pre-extension) bottom left. Thames Estuary and Wind Farms from Space NASA with annotations.jpg
Satellite image of the Thames Estuary with Kentish Flats (pre-extension) bottom left.

Construction was completed in August 2005, with commissioning and testing of all turbines completed by September 2005. The wind farm consists of 30 Vestas V90-3MW wind turbines with a total nameplate capacity of 90  MW. [1] Turbines were installed by the Danish offshore wind farms services provider A2SEA. [2] Between 2007 and 2010, the capacity factor was around 30%. [3] Its levelised cost has been estimated at £66/MWh. [4]

Power is transmitted to shore via three export cables. [5]

Kentish Flats extension

In February 2013 Vattenfall was granted consent to extend the existing Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm. [6] 15 turbines each with a capacity of 3.3 MW were installed adding an extra 49.5 MW to the wind farm. [7] Offshore construction began in October 2014 and was operational by December 2015. [7] [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

Horns Rev

Horns Rev is a shallow sandy reef of glacial deposits in the eastern North Sea, about 15 km (9.3 mi) off the westernmost point of Denmark, Blåvands Huk. The reef contains the Horns Rev Offshore Wind Farm.

Wind power in the United Kingdom Wind power in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is one of the best locations for wind power in the world and is considered to be the best in Europe. By the beginning of March 2022, the UK had 11,091 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of over 24.6 gigawatts (GW): 14.1 GW of onshore capacity and 10.4 GW of offshore capacity, the sixth largest capacity of any country in 2019. Wind power contributed 24.8% of UK electricity supplied in 2020, having surpassed coal in 2016 and nuclear in 2018. It is the largest source of renewable electricity in the UK. The UK Government has committed to a major expansion of offshore capacity by 2030 which was extended from 40GW to 50GW, with 5GW from floating wind sources in a statement by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 2022.

London Array

The London Array is a 175-turbine 630 MW Round 2 offshore wind farm located 20 kilometres (12 mi) off the Kent coast in the outer Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom. It was the largest offshore wind farm in the world until Walney Extension reached full production in September 2018.

The Thanet Wind Farm is an offshore wind farm 7 miles (11 km) off the coast of Thanet district in Kent, England. On commissioning it was the world's largest offshore wind farm. It has a nameplate capacity of 300 MW and it cost £780–900 million (US$1.2–1.4 billion). Thanet is one of fifteen Round 2 wind projects announced by the Crown Estate in January 2004 but the first to be developed. It was officially opened on 23 September 2010, when it overtook Horns Rev 2 as the biggest offshore wind farm in the world. It has since been overtaken by many others.

Wind power in Scotland Overview of wind power in Scotland

Wind power in Scotland is the fastest-growing renewable energy technology, with 9,347 MW of installed wind power capacity as of June 2020. This included 8,366 MW from onshore wind in Scotland and 981 MW of offshore wind generators.

Rhyl Flats Wind farm off the coast of Wales, UK

Rhyl Flats Offshore Wind Farm is a 25 turbine wind farm approximately 8 km north east of Llandudno in North Wales. It is Wales' second offshore wind farm and the third offshore wind farm to be built within Liverpool Bay. It has a maximum rated output of 90 MW.

Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm

The Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm is a 348 MW offshore wind farm located on the Burbo Flats in Liverpool Bay on the west coast of the UK in the Irish Sea. It consists of an original 90 MW wind farm commissioned in 2007 and a 258 MW extension completed in 2017.

Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farms

The Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farms are a pair of round 1 wind farms located in the North Sea, in the shallow waters at the entrance to The Wash off the coast of Lincolnshire, England. The wind farms were developed as a single unit after planning consent was given in 2003. Construction work began in 2006 and was completed in 2009.

Offshore wind power Wind turbines in marine locations for electricity production

Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of capacity installed. Offshore wind farms are also less controversial than those on land, as they have less impact on people and the landscape.

As of June 2022, wind power in the Netherlands has an installed capacity of 8,052 MW, 30.5% of which is based offshore. In 2019, the wind turbines provided the country with 12% of its electricity demand during the year, a figure that is growing but somewhat below the average of 15% that wind power provides across the whole of the EU's electricity consumption. The Dutch are trying to meet the EU-set target of producing 14% of total energy use from renewable sources by 2020, and 16% by 2023. Windmills have historically played a major part in the Netherlands by providing an alternative to water driven mills.

Ormonde Wind Farm Wind farm in the Irish Sea

The Ormonde Wind Farm is a wind farm west of Barrow-in-Furness in the Irish Sea. The wind farm covers an area of 8.7 square kilometres (3.4 sq mi). It has a total capacity of 150 MW and is expected to produce around 500 GWh of electricity per year.

Beatrice Wind Farm Wind farm close to the Beatrice oil field in the Moray Firth, off the north east coast of Scotland

The Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm now known as Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd (BOWL) project, is a wind farm close to the Beatrice oil field in the Moray Firth, part of the North Sea 13 km off the north east coast of Scotland.

Walney Wind Farm Offshore wind farm off the coast of Cumbria, England

Walney Wind Farms are a group of offshore wind farms 9 miles (14 km) west of Walney Island off the coast of Cumbria, in the Irish Sea, England. The group, operated by Ørsted, consists of Walney Phase 1, Phase 2 and the Walney Extension. The extension has a capacity of 659 MW making it the world's second largest offshore wind farm.

The European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC), also known as the Aberdeen Bay Wind Farm is an offshore wind test and demonstration facility located around 3 kilometres off the east coast of Aberdeenshire, in the North Sea, Scotland. It was developed by the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre consortium. The scheme is relatively small - it consists of 11 wind turbines with an installed capacity of 93.2 megawatts. It is located between Blackdog and Bridge of Don near Aberdeen. First power was generated in July 2018, with full commissioning following in September 2018.

East Anglia Array

The East Anglia Array is a proposed series of offshore wind farms located around 30 miles off the east coast of East Anglia, in the North Sea, England. Starting with East Anglia ONE it is being developed in partnership by ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall. Up to six individual projects could be set up in the area with a maximum capacity of up to 7.2 GW. The first project, East Anglia ONE at 714 MW, received planning consent in June 2014 and contracts in April 2016. Offshore construction began in 2018 and the project was commissioned in July 2020. It is expected to cost £2.5 billion.

Horns Rev Offshore Wind Farm

Horns Rev is an offshore wind farm in Danish waters in the North Sea.

References

  1. RenewableUK. "RenewableUK - The Voice of Wind & Marine Energy". Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  2. "A2SEA presentation" (PDF). A2SEA. Export Promotion Denmark. 12 April 2005. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  3. Dunford et al. UK Renewable Energy Data, Issue 10 p69 Renewable Energy Foundation , 29 July 2010. Accessed: 30 September 2011.
  4. Aldersey-Williams, John; Broadbent, Ian; Strachan, Peter (2019). "Better estimates of LCOE from audited accounts – A new methodology with examples from United Kingdom offshore wind and CCGT". Energy Policy. 128: 25–35. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2018.12.044. hdl: 10059/3298 . S2CID   158158724.
  5. "Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm Extension, Kent". Power Technology. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  6. The Planning Inspectorate. "National Infrastructure Planning" . Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Energy firm Vattenfall to add 15 turbines to Kentish Flats windfarm off the coast of Whitstable and Herne Bay costing £165m". Kent Online. 10 February 2015.
  8. Tim Yates. "RenewableUK - UK Wind Energy Database (UKWED)". Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2015.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm at Wikimedia Commons