Birds Threaten Largest Offshore Windfarm

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The future of the world's largest planned offshore windfarm is under threat since the discovery of some new residents: rare birds.

The discovery of a large population of red-throated divers on the site of the planned 370-megawatt (MW) expansion to the London Array windfarm, located in the Thames Estuary in England, threatens to bring the project to a halt. London Array, which is owned jointly by Dong Energy A/S (Fredericia, Denmark), Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) and German energy giant E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany) is scheduled to have a total generating capacity of up to 1,000 MW, enough to power approximately 750,000 homes. However, if a solution to the resident, endangered birds is not found it could cut the size of the project by a third. The first phase of the project, which is under construction, has a generating capacity of 630 MW and is due to be commissioned in 2012.

To date, 70 of the 175 foundations have been installed, along with two offshore substations, while 50 vessels are working to ensure the first half of the €2.2 billion ($3 billion) project stays on track. The installation of 175 Siemens SWT-3.6 turbines, rated at 3.6 MW each, will commence next year.

According to Project Director Richard Rigg, the discovery of thousands of red-throated divers on the planned site throws up some obstacles to the next phase of the project. The 370-MW phase of the project has a grid connection date of 2015 to the National Grid, which means a decision on the project will have to made next year if this deadline is to be met.

London Array is conducting its own surveys into the birds' habitats before submitting a report to Natural England and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). The consortium had to amend its original plans to appease both groups back in 2006, before it got the green light for the project.

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