750 MW Offshore Wind Farm Approved for Wales  

TreeHugger reports on a large new offshore wind farm planned for Wales - 750 MW Offshore Wind Farm Approved for Wales.

he pound may be tanking against world currencies, credit may be scarce, and very real fears of deep economic recession abound, but that hasn't stopped Npower Renewables' plans for a giant new wind farm off the Welsh coast. Approved this week by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Gwynt y Môr wind farm will be located 10 miles offshore from Llandudno, Wales. The tech details (such as they are) are as follows:

Expected to begin feeding electricity into the grid in 2012, the 750 MW, 250 turbine wind farm will (when combined three nearby, smaller wind farms) create enough power for 680,000 homes. Construction of onshore portions of the projection should begin in 2009, with offshore portions commencing in 2011.

With the approval of this project, the total offshore projects with planning approval has risen to 4.5 GW, according to the British Wind Energy Association. In October, the UK surpassed Denmark as the world’s number one offshore wind power producer.