World's Largest Wind Farm Gets Go Ahead

The British government has approved plans to do initial construction studies and public input into the London Array, an array of 341 wind turbines in the Thames Estuary 12 miles of the Kent and Essex coast.

The wind farm would be constructed in phases, and when fully complete would generate up to 1,000 MW of electricity. This is enough to meet the electricity needs of 750,000 homes – around a quarter of Greater London or all of the homes in Kent and East Sussex.

The project would contribute significantly to the Government’s target for renewable energy – providing around 10% of their target for 2010. It would also prevent the emission of 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year (enough to fill the bowl at the new Wembley Stadium 910 times) compared to a fossil fuel power station producing the same amount of electricity.