London Array wind farm reaches full capacity

All 175 wind turbines are now exporting power to the national grid and are expected to produce enough electricity to power almost 500,000 households a year.

The installation of the last turbine marks the culmination of more than two years’ offshore construction work, which began in March 2011.

The project, owned by DONG energy E.ON and Masdar, is situated 20km off the coast of Essex on a 245km2 site.

E.ON UK chief executive officer Tony Cocker said that progress on the project, which could reduce CO2 emissions by over 900,000 tonnes a year, had not been helped by an unusually long winter.

“It’s been a tough time for the team working on site. The recent bad weather and north easterly winds have whipped up the waves preventing access to the site so this milestone is a true reward for their hard work,” he said.

Conor McGlone