In a situation when the entire world is trying to find out means to stop the fast exhausting sources of natural fuels, it is proving to be a good option to utilise the offshore locations where wind farms can be built as a source of renewable energy and also help to solve many problems. Among the other countries who are investing in this option of building offshore wind farms, UK is being considered as a world leader. Since the year 2008, wind farms have come up in various parts of UK in exceptional volumes and have been doing their jobs with great success.
What do Offshore Wind Farms do for the UK?
UK has crossed France and Italy in generating wind power and as per data; so far, the offshore wind farms of UK have been generating 8 terawatt-hours of electricity every year which have been utilised for lighting 2 million homes across the country. There are more wind farms in the plans which are yet to be constructed and support the country. With the help of these offshore wind farms not only has the CO2 emission rate gone down by 900,000 tonnes on a yearly basis but employment rate has also gone up significantly as large number of people have got engaged in this segment.
How Long to Build One?
As per the estimates given by the Global Wind Energy Council, a 10MW wind farm can be constructed in 2 months whereas a one with more capacity than 50MW may take six months.
Which is the Largest Off Shore Wind Farm in the UK?
The London Array which got started in 2011 and opened by 2013 is the biggest offshore wind farm project in the entire UK which can produce 630MW of power. It is being planned out in phases with the first phase being totally complete.
As UK is the third largest wind power generator in Europe, it is being estimated that above 1,200 turbines will start producing power in course of the next 12 months. This is scheduled to give electricity to 4.6 million homes or more than that. While Scotland already has most of the offshore wind farms of UK more of them are scheduled for construction with facilities being provided by renowned companies like Siemens.