Company of the Week - World's largest offshore wind farm produces first power

The development has been under construction since March 2011 and 151 of
the 175 wind turbines have now been installed, with construction on
schedule to be finished by the end of the year.

The 175 wind turbines will produce enough power to supply over 470,000
UK homes with electricity.

DONG Energy, E.ON and Masdar announced that the first power had been
produced at the London Array Offshore Wind Farm.

Benj Sykes, Wind UK Country Manager at DONG Energy, said: "With its 630
MW the London Array project will be the first of the next generation of
larger offshore wind farms and we are pleased to have reached first
power. Being able to efficiently develop large offshore wind farms and
harvest the scale advantages in both construction and operation is an
important element in our continuous efforts to bring down costs of
energy of offshore wind."

Dr. Tony Cocker, CEO of E.ON UK, said: "This is not only a very
important milestone for the London Array development but also a major
landmark for the global renewables sector.We firmly believe that
electricity from renewable sources has a vital part to play in helping
us to deliver energy in a way that is sustainable, affordable and secure
and this is why we are aiming to reduce the costs of offshore wind by
40% by 2015."

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar, said: "The London Array offshore
wind project is a landmark achievement for Masdar, its partners and the
United Kingdom. We are proud to be making a significant contribution to
the UK's renewable energy portfolio and targets. The London Array
development is an example of the true potential and commercial viability
of renewable energy. It is also a model of the collaboration and action
required to implement large-scale clean energy projects in an effort to
sustainable meet our growing energy demands."

London Array is being built around 20km off the coasts of Kent and
Essex. The wind farm will be installed on a 245km2 site and will be
built in two phases. Phase One will cover 90km2 and include 175 turbines
with a combined capacity of 630MW. The consortium plans to complete the
first phase by the end of 2012. If approved, the second phase will add
enough capacity to bring the total to 870MW.

The project consortium partners have the following shareholdings: DONG
Energy owns 50%, E.ON has 30% and Masdar has a 20% stake.

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