Monday 6 June 2016

Wind farm extension project officially opens in Kent

The extension of an offshore wind farm off the Kent coast has been officially inaugurated.

The Kentish Flats Extension (KFE) wind farm consists of 15 turbines with a total capacity of 49.5MW.

They are expected to generate enough electricity to power 35,000 homes per year.

The project is an extension of the 11-year old Kentish Flats which has a capacity of 90MW.

According to Vattenfall, which owns the wind farm, it will help the firm towards operating a competitive, low cost, world beating fleet of offshore wind farms in the next 10 years.

Gunnar Groebler, Vattenfall’s Vice President of Business Area Wind said: “Kentish Flats Extension is a relatively small scheme which punches above its weight. Novel foundations, safer and quicker installation, new procedures, longer blades: these and other innovations mean that KFE is a flag bearer for knowledge driven cost reduction. Vattenfall and the industry are ahead on the low cost energy challenge."