European energy company Vattenfall has erected the first of 100 Vestas V90 turbines at the 300MW Thanet offshore wind farm off the Kent coast.

Vattenfall finished the erection of the turbine last Wednesday (December 9) at dawn.

The Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, located 12 kilometres off Foreness Point on the Kent coast, has been under construction since 2008 and all 100 wind turbines are due to start generating electricity in the second half of 2010.

Offshore works began in April 2009, with the Sea Jack offshore construction vessel putting in the monopile foundations for each of the wind turbines planned for the site (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story).

David Hodkinson, head of development at Vattenfall Wind Power in the UK, said: "The erection of the first wind turbine at Thanet is a fantastic achievement and we now look to make good progress towards completing the project in 2010.

"We really appreciate the continued high levels of public support from people and businesses in Kent and we would like to acknowledge the incredible efforts our suppliers, including turbine supplier Vestas, have put in to help us reach this important milestone."

Capacity
On completion, the wind farm will comprise of 100 Vestas V90 wind turbines and have a total capacity of 300MW. Vattenfall claims that this is sufficient to supply approximately the equivalent of 240,000 homes per year with clean energy.

Last month, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced that Thanet was one of six wind farms under consideration for a share of £300 million funding to help connect it to the mainland via a series of high voltage cables (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story).

The wind farm will be located in water depths of 20-25m and cover an area of 35km2. Each turbine will be up to 115m tall at its highest point, with a minimum clearance above sea level of 22m. The distance between turbines is set to be approximately 500m along rows and 800m between rows.

source: newenergyfocus.co