Ever since 2001 the London Array Offshore Wind Farm has been in the planning stages. This wind power project is a proposal to build a huge wind farm about 20km off the Kent and Essex coastline in the outer Thames Estuary and would meet around 10% of the UK government’s renewable energy targets.

The London Array consortium originally consisted of three partners: Shell WindEnergy, UK’s E.ON and Denmark’s DONG Energy. However, only very recently Shell has announced that they are pulling out to pursue onshore wind projects in the US. It’s still unclear what this will mean for the future of the London Array project but it will definitely delay the project to some extent.

When complete, it is expected that the London Array will consist of up to 341 wind turbines capable of generating up to 1,000MW of electricity. Offshore and onshore substations will be built and cabling will be laid between the turbines and the shore. All up, the electricity produced by the project will meet the needs of up to 750,000 homes per year.

The proposed site is bounded by Black Deep to the west, Fisherman’s Gat to the south and the main approach to the Port of London to the southwest. The site is outside of major shipping channels and will be set up to take maximum advantage of the prevailing sout-westerly winds.

The wind farm would be connected by undersea cables to a proposed new onshore substation at Cleve Hill, on the North Kent coast. From the substation, the electricity would be fed into the existing 400kV transmission network.

At this stage the the tender process for major construction contracts in underway with the consortium calling for submissions. This tender process is expected to continue for most of 2008.

With the departure from the project of Shell the expected completion dates will be dramatically altered. The European Union renewable energy target for the UK was dependent on the London Array project being completed by 2010. Someone will have to step in who is willing to make the huge investment required by the project. With the rise in wind turbine components in recent years, projected costs have risen from £1 billion in 2003 to more than £2.5 billion. Until a new partner can be found all eyes will be on the remaining project partners, E.ON and DONG to see how they react.

Dr Paul Golby, chief executive of E.ON UK said, “Shell has introduced a new element of risk into the project which will need to be assessed. The current economics of the project are marginal at best… I believe that, at the very least, some delay to the project is now inevitable.”

Much greater detail into the project can be found on the official London Array website which includes maps of the proposed site, detailed descriptions of the components, environmental studies that have been conducted, as well as updates into the project.

You can also find out about another offshore wind project under preparation off the English coast known as the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Project.