RWE to Build in UK World’s Biggest Offshore Wind Farm

iNVEZZ.com, Friday, July 12th: The UK’s wind energy sector has received a major boost with the government granting planning permission to German utility RWE (FRA:RWE, ETR:RWE) to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm off Britain’s east coast. The government also announced that construction would start on the Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm in South Wales, an onshore wind power project led by Sweden’s Vattenfall AB. RWE’s share price rose in intraday German trading on Friday.

**Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm**
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) yesterday said in a statement that it had given planning consent for what would be the world’s largest offshore wind farm. The Triton Knoll wind farm, to be built by Germany’s RWE, will be located approximately 20 miles off the coast of Lincolnshire and 28 miles from the coast of North Norfolk. The project involves installing 288 turbines at a cost of £3.6 billion. The array of turbines is expected to create around 1,130 jobs and have a producing capacity of 1,200 MW of renewable energy, enough for powering up to 850,000 households.

Construction on the offshore wind farm would not start until 2017, The Times said. The project reportedly represents a quarter of the new offshore wind capacity, for which the German utility is seeking permission to build in Europe in the next 18 months. In May, RWE reported that it had successfully installed the first of a total of 160 wind turbines at the offshore wind farm Gwynt y Mor off the coast of North Wales.

**Vattenfall to Build Largest Onshore Farm in Wales and England**
DECC also said that construction will start on the Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm, which would be the largest onshore wind farm in Wales and England. The 76-turbine project led by Swedish energy company Vattenfall involves more than £400 million of investment. The wind farm will have 228 MW of installed capacity, enough to power approximately 140,000 households. Construction of the Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm is scheduled to begin in 2014. Power generation should start by the end of 2016.

!m[Triton Knoll Wind Power Project Needs £3.6 Billion Investment ](/uploads/story/3941/thumbs/pic1_inline.gif)
“These two projects will attract billions in investment into the UK,” Energy Minister Ed Davey said in the statement. “We have provided certainty early to onshore and offshore wind investors and now see significant investment decisions being made that will benefit the UK’s economy for years to come.”

Last week, David Cameron cut the ribbon on the London Array, currently the world’s biggest offshore wind farm. The project, owned by Denmark’s Dong Energy, Germany’s E.ON and Masdar of Abu Dhabi, has 630MW installed capacity, enough to power 470,000 homes.
**RWE’s share price was 1.24 percent up at €22.80 on the Deutsche Boerse XETRA as of 14:19 CEST on 12 July 2013. In Frankfurt, RWE’s share price was 0.98 percent up at €22.78.**