The Thanet Wind Farm (also sometimes called Thanet Offshore Wind Farm) is an

offshore wind farm Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of ca ...

off the coast of Thanet district in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. On commissioning it was the world's largest offshore wind farm. It has a

nameplate capacity Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, maximum effect or gross capacity,MW and it cost £780O'Toole, Sarah
World’s biggest offshore wind farm opens today
''Global Energy Magazine'', 23 September 2010. Retrieved: 29 September 2010.–900 million (US$1.2–1.4 billion). Thanet is one of fifteen Round 2 wind projects announced by the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

in January 2004 but the first to be developed. It was officially opened on 23 September 2010,Shankleman, Jessica
UK cuts ribbon on world's largest offshore wind farm
''BusinessGreen'', 23 September 2010. Retrieved: 23 September 2010. when it overtook Horns Rev 2 as the biggest offshore wind farm in the world. It has since been overtaken by many others (medio 2017 it ranks 14th).

Description

The project covers an area of , with between turbines and between the rows. Average water depth is . Planning permission for the project was granted on 18 December 2006. According to Thanet Offshore Wind Ltd, it was expected to be "the largest operational offshore wind farm in the World". The Thanet project has a total capacity of 300 MW which, by yearly average, is sufficient to supply approximately 240,000 homes. It has an estimated generation of 960 GW·h per year of electricity, i.e. a projected

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 ...

of 36.5% and an average

power density Power density, defined as the amount of power (the time rate of energy transfer) per unit volume, is a critical parameter used across a spectrum of scientific and engineering disciplines. This metric, typically denoted in watts per cubic meter ...

of 3.1 W/m².
In 2012, the yearly production achieved was 821.68 GW·h, i.e. a capacity factor of 31.3%. Two

submarine power cable A submarine power cable is a transmission cable for carrying electric power below the surface of the water.Prysmian Group) run from an offshore substation within the wind farm connecting to an existing onshore substation in Richborough, Kent, connecting to a world-first two transformers.Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, Kent, United Kingdom
''Power Technology''. Retrieved: 29 September 2010. The offshore substation steps up the turbine voltage of 33 kV to 132 kV for the grid.Substation in place
''

Vestas Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the Un ...

''. Retrieved: 4 September 2010. Maintenance of the turbines is carried out by

, while a separate maintenance agreement with SLP Energy covers the turbines foundations. Turbines are installed by the Danish offshore wind farm services provider A2SEA. The TIV ''MPI Resolution'' carried and installed the turbines.100 turbines in 100 days
''

''. Retrieved: 4 September 2010.

Financial structure

The Thanet scheme is

project finance Project finance is the long-term financing of infrastructure and industrial projects based upon the projected cash flows of the project rather than the balance sheets of its sponsors. Usually, a project financing structure involves a number of eq ...

d. Thanet Offshore Wind Ltd (TOW), the project company was owned by

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

Christofferson, Robb & Co. It was purchased from a group of sponsors led by Warwick Energy Ltd. In August 2008 Christofferson, Robb & Co placed the project back on the market. On 10 November 2008,

Vattenfall Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational corporation, multinational electrical power industry, power company owned by the List of government enterprises of Sweden, Swedish state. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germa ...

, a Swedish energy company, acquired TOW.

Development

The development was due to be in place by 2008. Vestas were chosen as the preferred turbine supplier in July 2006, and SLP were chosen as the preferred supplier for the foundations in September 2006. The project was delayed by a number of issues including problems with Vestas who temporarily withdrew their V90 offshore model from the market in 2007 following

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

problems. The V90-3MW was re-released for sales starting from May 2008. Vattenfall acquired the project in November 2008. On 28 June 2010, they reported that all turbines had been installed ''New Energy Focus'', 28 June 2010. Retrieved: 18 August 2010. for commissioning due by the end of 2010. The wind farm was completed in September 2010. Thames Estuary and Wind Farms from Space NASA with annotations

Thames Estuary and Wind Farms from Space NASA with annotations

Criticism

Since turbine construction makes up the majority of the project cost and the UK has no capacity, much of the work was contracted to foreign companies, resulting in only 20% of the investment going to British firms. There have been calls for the creation of a domestic wind industry. An article by climate change denier and

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins".#Numbers 2006, Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for it ...

supporter

Christopher Booker Christopher John Penrice Booker (7 October 1937 – 3 July 2019) was an English journalist and author. He was a founder and first editor of the satirical magazine '' Private Eye'' in 1961. From 1990 onward he was a columnist for ''The Sunday Te ...

criticised the subsidy given to develop the project and drew attention to the capacity factor of wind farms. As of December 2017, Thanet's lifetime capacity factor has been 32.6%. Its levelised cost has been estimated at £159/MWh.

Extension

In June 2010, the Crown Estate announced that Thanet wind farm could be extended to produce an additional 147 MW. However, in October 2010, Vattenfall stated that it would not proceed. As of 2017 Vattenfall is working at the option for an extension On 2 June 2020, the DCO for a new cluster of wind turbines off the coast of Thanet was rejected. Business secretary Alok Sharma said the proposal by Vattenfall would not be allowed to proceed. The proposals would have seen 34 turbines sited 8 km from the shore, which would reportedly generate more power than the existing 100 turbines, which sit 12 km off Foreness Point. Vattenfall stated in their initial application that the Thanet Extension would allow an expansion to the existing workforce of 75 people. Danielle Lane, UK country manager for the Scandinavian organisation, said: "Naturally we’re very disappointed by this decision and will consider how we proceed from here. "We continue to believe that Thanet extension would be an important development for the local area, for UK energy security, and for the drive to reduce emissions." The extension would have had a capacity of up to 340MW and would be capable of supplying renewable electricity annually to the equivalent of about 282,000 UK homes

References

External links

A video about the inauguration of Thanet offshore wind farmA video by Vattenfall showing turbine assembly processLORC: Datasheet for Thanet Offshore Wind Farm
{{South East powerstations Buildings and structures in Kent Offshore wind farms in the North Sea Wind farms in England Thanet Vattenfall wind farms Power stations in South East England Round 2 offshore wind farms Energy infrastructure completed in 2010 2010 establishments in England