The East Anglia Array is a proposed series of

offshore wind farm Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of c ...

s located around 30 miles off the east coast of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

, in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It has begun with the currently operational East Anglia ONE, that has been developed in partnership by ScottishPower Renewables and

Vattenfall Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational power company owned by the Swedish State. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The company's name is Swedish for "waterfall", and ...

. Up to six individual projects could be set up in the area with a maximum capacity of up to 7.2 GW. The first project, East Anglia ONE at 714 MW, received planning consent in June 2014 and contracts in April 2016. Offshore construction began in 2018 and the project was commissioned in July 2020. It is expected to cost £2.5 billion.

Planning

The East Anglia Zone is in the

off the east coast of

. It is one of nine offshore zones belonging to the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

which formed part of the third licence round for UK offshore wind farms. At the closest point the zone is 14 km from shore. East Anglia Offshore Wind (EAOW) is a partnership between ScottishPower Renewables and

. In December 2009, EAOW was announced as the developer for the East Anglia Zone. The target capacity for the entire East Anglia Zone is 7200 MW which could require up to 1200 turbines. Up to six individual projects could be set up in the area. The first project is the East Anglia ONE windfarm, which was commissioned in July 2020. EAOW has planning permission granted for East Anglia THREE, and has announced plans for further projects named East Anglia TWO and East Anglia ONE North. If consents are received, all three new arrays will be built as a hub, combining to provide a rated capacity of 3.1GW of electricity from 263 wind turbines.

East Anglia ONE

East Anglia ONE is located in the southern area of the East Anglia Zone, and is approximately 43 km (27 miles) from the shore. The initial proposal was for an installed capacity of 1200 MW. Cabling for East Anglia ONE lands near the

River Deben The River Deben is a river in Suffolk rising to the west of Debenham, though a second, higher source runs south from the parish of Bedingfield. The river passes through Woodbridge, turning into a tidal estuary before entering the North Sea at Fe ...

Bawdsey Bawdsey is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, eastern England. Located on the other side of the river Deben from Felixstowe, it had an estimated population of 340 in 2007, reducing to 276 at the Census 2011. Bawdsey Manor is notable as the ...

, runs north of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

and is connected to the National Grid at

Bramford Bramford is a village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is three miles west of Ipswich of which it forms part of the wider Ipswich Built-up area. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Brunfort" or "Branfort". The River Gipp ...

. A plan was formally submitted to the government in December 2012, and planning consent was granted in June 2014. In October 2014 ScottishPower announced that it intended to scale down East Anglia ONE because of insufficient subsidies. In February 2015 it was announced that ScottishPower would proceed with a scaled-down 714 MW project. A contract for £119/MWh was published on 27 April 2016, using 102

Siemens Wind Power Siemens AG ( ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal ...

gearless turbines of 7 MW each. Nacelles were built in Cuxhaven, while blades were made in Hull. Due to water depths between 30-40 m, the turbines use jacketed foundations. Cabling is at 66 kV as opposed to the traditional 33 kV. Two export cables at 220 kV AC send the power to shore. A support vessel is powered by used

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Construction

Onshore construction began in 2017, with offshore construction starting in 2018. The first foundation was completed in June 2018 and the first turbine was completed in June 2019. The windfarm's offshore substation was installed in August 2018. First power was generated in September 2019, turbine installation was completed in April 2020, and commercial operation began in July 2020.

East Anglia TWO

The East Anglia TWO wind farm is proposed to be 31km off-shore from Lowestoft and to have a generating capacity of 900MW. It is planned to be ready by 2030.

East Anglia THREE

The proposed East Anglia THREE wind farm is located in the northern half of the East Anglia Zone, and is approximately 69 km (42 miles) from the shore. It is expected to provide an installed capacity of 1200 MW from up to 172 turbines.

East Anglia ONE North

The proposed East Anglia ONE North wind farm is located approximately 36km from Lowestoft and 42km from Southwold. The proposed development would have a generating capacity of up to 800MW.

References

External links

* *National Infrastructure Planning ** ** ** {{Electricity generation in the East of England Proposed wind farms in England Offshore wind farms in the North Sea Round 3 offshore wind farms 2020 establishments in England