£150m in EIB Funds for Thanet Offshore Wind Farm

The European Investment Bank is supplying £150 million in funding towards the sustained operation of the largest offshore wind farm on Earth.

The investment's going to Sweden's Vattenfall, which owns the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, located off the east coast of the UK.

Thanet Offshore Wind Farm opened in September 2010 and features a massive array of 300 foot-high turbines. Each of these is rated at three MW, creating a combined 300MW capacity and the Wind Farm is seen as a crucial part of the UK's goal to have renewable energy sources supplying 15 per cent of the overall energy mix in use in the year 2020. Right now, its output is enough for the electricity needs of no less than 200,000 domestic residences.

Thanet Offshore Wind Farm

"The Thanet Offshore wind farm demonstrates how offshore wind can achieve economies of scale and make a significant contribution to renewable energy supply. The European Investment Bank is committed to supporting expansion of the offshore sector to increase experience and drive commercialisation of cutting edge technology", European Investment Bank UK Vice President, Simon Brooks, said in a statement.

European Investment Bank offshore wind farm investments have been ongoing for the past nine years. Previously, it's supported a host of other sites and, of these, there are five that generate close to 40 per cent of total, globally-installed wind power.

EIB Offshore Wind Farm Funding

The EIB's offshore wind farm involvement will continue with other sites such as the London Array Offshore Wind Farm which, when completed, is set to take Thanet's world-beating crown. Construction on this got underway in March 2011 while, boosting its £150m investment, the EIB is set to get further involved in the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm when it pays for a link that will feed its electricity into the National Grid.

"We are proud to have built the world's largest offshore wind farm, and we are very pleased with European Investment Bank long-term funding support at attractive terms and conditions, providing an alternative to bond markets", Vattenfall's Johan Gyllenhoff added.

Image copyright Jamie Cook - Courtesy Vattenfall

See also:

Companies supplying Wind Power