RWE Innogy receives consent to build the Galloper offshore wind farm off the south east coast of England

The wind farm has been developed in a joint venture between RWE Innogy and the British electric utility Scottish and Southern Energy plc (SSE). It will have an installed capacity of 504 megawatts.

The project is located some 27 kilometres off the coast of the English county of Suffolk.

The plans that have now been approved provide for the construction of 140 wind turbines over an area of 180 square kilometres. It is furthermore intended to build up to three substations together with up to three meteorological masts at sea. The installation of three export cables that carry electricity to the feed-in point to the grid near Sizewell has also received consent.

Paul Cowling, Director of Offshore Wind at RWE Innogy comments, “Galloper is the first of our four British offshore wind projects at the development stage for which we have now received approval. Building upon the experience we gained during construction of the Greater Gabbard wind farm – located just a few kilometres away – we are now very pleased to drive this project forward together with SSE.” The forecast generating capacity of the wind farm would be sufficient to supply electricity to the equivalent of over 400,000 UK homes per annum.

Development of the Galloper offshore wind farm was put out to tender in 2009 by the Crown Estate – the property business that manages Crown property in Britain – as an extension project to the Greater Gabbard wind farm. In 2010 RWE and SSE were awarded the development contract for the project. The two companies completed the Greater Gabbard wind farm at the end of 2012. It encompasses 140 wind turbines with an installed capacity of 504 megawatts.