Plans call for the wind farm to consist of 140 turbines sited around the Inner Gabbard and The Galloper sandbanks, producing 500MW of power. This is sufficient to power more than 415,000 homes, equally the domestic demand for all of Suffolk. Occupying 150 sq/km in the Outer Thames Estuary strategic wind farm area, Greater Gabbard will help to cut CO2 emissions by 1.5m tons per year, equivalent to taking 350,000 cars off the road.

The project will be built by Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited (GGOWL), a joint venture between Dublin based renewable energy company Airtricity and global contractors Fluor Corporation. GGOWL has also received permission to connect the wind farm to the electricity grid via a substation at Sizewell from Suffolk Coastal District Council. Sizewell is the small hamlet which is home to the UK’s most modern nuclear power plant.

The east coast of England is a key area for offshore wind projects with some 6.5GW of capacity currently planned out of the 10GW total for all of the UK.

Receipt of planning consent allows the joint venture to progress the project design and to structure the project financing arrangements as well as the power purchase agreements that are required to allow the project to achieve financial close, scheduled for the second half of this year.

GGOWL is already focussing on pre-construction activities. Fluor will act as engineering, procurement and construction contractor. The procurement process for turbines and other equipment is underway, with offshore construction planned to start in 2009.