North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm is

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

' first offshore

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

, and the UK's first major offshore renewable power project. Situated in Liverpool Bay, it commenced operation in 2003. The first of the UK's Round 1 offshore wind farms, North Hoyle covers an area of , and is located approximately off the coast of

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, ...

, between the towns of

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the historic boundaries of Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd ( Welsh: ''Afon Clwyd''). To the we ...

and

Prestatyn Prestatyn is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085, History Prehistory There is evidence that ...

. The Round 1 projects were intended to act as testbeds; building the UK's understanding of offshore

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...

, whilst in total also providing well over 1,000 MW of green generating capacity for the UK. All of the Round 1 offshore wind farms were limited to a maximum area of , and no more than 30 wind turbines. The wind farm's 30 Vestas V80 Offshore

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s are each rated at 2 MW capacity, giving a maximum project output of 60 MW. At the time of installation this was the most powerful wind farm in the UK, producing sufficient electricity annually to power 50,000 homes. Between 2004 and 2010, the

capacity factor The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is def ...

was between 33 and 36%.Dunford et al
UK Renewable Energy Data, Issue 10
p43 ''

Renewable Energy Foundation The Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), founded in 2004 by UK TV personality Noel Edmonds, is a United Kingdom-based registered charity with a stated aim of promoting the development of sustainable energy technologies. Their funders include Barclays ...

'', 29 July 2010. Accessed: 30 September 2011. Its levelised cost has been estimated at £77/MWh. Independent surveys carried out for the operators of North Hoyle have shown that the wind farm is very popular among holidaymakers and local residents. An opinion poll carried out in 2003, after its construction, showed that 73% of people expressed support for the project and only 5% opposed it. North Hoyle was developed, built and is operated by RWE npower renewables (formerly National Wind Power); npower renewables also owns the neighbouring Rhyl Flats and Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farms.

See also