The UK’s Dorset coast targeted as site for £175-million wind farm

one of the world’s largest construction projects, a £175-million wind farm.
Being touted as “one of the largest construction projects in the world,” a large-scale £175-million wind farm off the UK’s Dorset coast may start construction by 2015. The Daily Echo reported yesterday (June 16) that the wind farm would be composed of turbines that are 160 meters above sea level and about 10 miles off the coastline. The project would help the UK derive 15% of its energy needs and 30% of its electricity from renewables by 2020.

An area west of the Isle of Wight has reportedly been identified for possible offshore wind farms. Developers will be chosen before this year ends while sites will be named by 2010.

An environmental assessment of the project will be released next week, along with the government’s stand on the project, external affairs officer Dermot Grimson told the Daily Echo. Plans will reportedly be considered through an inquiry, with local authorities being consulted. Planning consents are expected to be released by 2014 for construction to start by 2015, Grimson said.

Bournemouth, which is part of the Dorset coast, had earlier voted in favor of a 100-turbine wind farm off Poole Bay. Bournemouth has recently been awarded by the UK Carbon Action Network with the South West Region award for energy efficiency. Bournemouth, in cooperation with the Dorset Energy Advice Centre, introduced a scheme in 2004 to increase energy efficiency in houses by installing cavity wall and loft insulation at no cost to landlords or tenants. More than 6,000 individual bedsit units have already been insulated, protecting tenants from “fuel poverty.”

The UK’s Dorset coast targeted as site for £175-million wind farm

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