The Big Project: London Array

Of all the components that will make up the UK’s new energy landscape in the coming decades, wind is perhaps the most contentious. Supporters and opponents are seemingly entrenched in their positions, with the intermittency of wind being the biggest stumbling block to the acceptance of wind turbines and farms.

For the supporters of wind energy, the potential of offshore wind is the trump card; stronger, more sustained in magnitude and direction, and much less intermittent than onshore wind, the wind out to sea is said to offer real possibilities for the reliable generation of renewable power.

But it’s far more difficult to build off shore than on shore, and, as yet, there are no really large offshore wind farms. The current largest is Walney Island, off the coast of Cumbria, whose 102 turbines have a combined capacity of 367.2MW and power some 320,000 homes in the north west. Even that is a newcomer to the UK’s energy mix, coming on stream less than a fortnight before The Engineer went to press.