Wind Farm Double Size of Manhattan Unveiled in Irish Sea
Orsted A/S unveiled the world’s largest offshore wind farm, an 87-turbine complex in the Irish Sea covering an area more than double the size of Manhattan.
The Walney Extension off the coast of northwest England has a generating capacity of 659 megawatts and is capable of powering 590,000 homes, according to Danish company Orsted, the world’s biggest developer of offshore wind farms.
MHI Vestas Offshore Wind A/S and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA provided the turbines for the project that began construction in August 2015. The Vestas 8-megawatt turbines stand 195 meters tall while the 7-megawatt version by Siemens is 154 meters from sea level to blade tip.
Largest Offshore Global Wind Farms by Capacity
| Offshore project | Capacity (MW) | No. of turbines | Country |
| Walney Extension | 659 | 87 | U.K. |
| London Array | 630 | 175 | U.K. |
| Gemini | 600 | 750 | Netherlands |
| Gode I & II | 582 | 97 | Germany |
| Gwynt Y Mor | 576 | 160 | U.K. |
| Race Bank | 573 | 91 | U.K. |
| Greater Gabbard | 504 | 140 | U.K. |
| Dudgeon | 402 | 67 | U.K. |
| Veja Mate | 402 | 67 | Germany |
| Rampion | 400.2 | 116 | U.K. |
Source: Renewables U.K.
At 145 square kilometers, Walney overtakes another U.K. offshore wind farm, London Array, as the world’s largest. It uses less than half the number of turbines over a larger area to generate more power.
Orsted sold 50 percent of Walney to a group of Danish pension funds in November 2017. The U.K. currently operates 1,837 offshore wind turbines with an operational capacity of 7.1 gigawatts, according to trade association Renewable U.K.
Source: Bloomberg L.P.
