Vattenfall Resurrects Thanet 2 Offshore Windfarm in UK

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Vattenfall (Stockholm, Sweden) is to start consultations this month on extending its existing Thanet offshore windfarm in the U.K. with a new project.

The Thanet 2 offshore windfarm, which will be located near the original windfarm off the Kent coast in southeast England, will boast 34 turbines and have a total generating capacity of up to 340 megawatts (MW).

The existing Thanet windfarm was commissioned by Vattenfall in September 2010 and was the world's largest at the time. Located 10-15 kilometres (km) off Foreness Point, the 300-MW windfarm sports 100 Vestas V90 wind turbines, each of which has a capacity of 3 MW. For additional information, see September 23, 2010, article - U.K. Opens World's Largest Windfarm.

Vattenfall had plans at the time to extend the project by up to 147 MW with a new windfarm but abandoned them, citing limited access to the national grid and difficult timescales. For additional information, see October 19, 2010, article - Vattenfall Cancels Thanet Windfarm Extension.

The developer plans to hold five public information days from 20 January in the Thanet area.

Helen Jameson, the project director for the Thanet Extension Offshore Wind Farm, said: "Vattenfall's Kent Cluster of offshore wind power has made an important contribution to the Thanet and Kent economy and community. We think there is an opportunity to add more green energy capacity to the existing Thanet Offshore Wind Farm to deliver cheap, green, economy-boosting electricity. We are at the early stages, but it's important we understand local people's concerns and hopes for the extension. Please come along to one of our drop-in sessions and ask the specialists on hand about our early plans."

Vattenfall, which has a goal of being carbon neutral by 2050, is aggressively building its European wind power business. It wants to treble its wind capacity by 2025 to 7-gigawatts (GW). The company has won a number of windfarm auctions in recent months, thanks to very competitive pricing that has set new lows for offshore windfarm construction. In November, Vattenfall saw off rivals by submitting the lowest bid to secure the 600-MW Kriegers Flak offshore windfarm contract from Denmark's government. For additional information, see November 14, 2016, article--Vattenfall Blows Rivals Away for Largest Nordic Windfarm.

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