Giant Spinning Things To Appear Off Kent Coast

M@
By M@ Last edited 207 months ago
Giant Spinning Things To Appear Off Kent Coast
windfarm.jpg

We need green energy. And on this blustery isle, one of the best sources is wind power. Trouble is, we're also a nation of moaners, and any large structures get the NIMBYs tilting at windmills. So what to do? Stick them offshore of course (the wind farms...sadly, not the NIMBYs). It looks like the south-east is to get the most whopping renewable powerplant you ever did see.

The £1.5bn London Array scheme will have 341 turbines rising from the sea about 12 miles (20km) off the Kent and Essex coasts, as well as five offshore substations and four meteorological masts.

And, for once, everyone's happy.

• Jobs a-plenty for the good people of Kent

• Green power for a million homes

• Less of a threat to seabirds - a problem often highlighted by the RSPB

• Massive sense of one-upmanship by placing the world's biggest windmills halfway to Amsterdam

• First line of defence against any low-flying, inept Zeppelin pilots

Despite the grand scale, the turbines will only generate 1% of the UK's energy needs. But it's an encouraging start, and equal to about a third of London homes according to some sources.

Image taken from Rae A's Flickr photostream.

Last Updated 19 December 2006