By Kari Williamson
The offshore wind farm consists of 102 Siemens 3.6 MW wind turbines, and is owned by DONG Energy (50.1%), SSE (25.1%) and OPW (24.8%).
According to DONG, Walney is the first UK offshore wind farm to receive investment from a pension fund service provider and an equity fund before it had been built. OPW is jointly owned by Dutch pension administrator PGGM and Ampère Equity Fund (managed by Tridos Investment Management).
Furthermore, it took only 5.5 months to complete the second phase of the offshore wind farm.
The newly appointed Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Edward Davey, opened the offshore wind farm saying: “Britain has a lot to be proud of in our growing offshore wind sector. Our island's tremendous natural resource, our research base and a proud history of engineering make this the number one destination for investment in offshore wind.
“Walney is the newest, biggest and fastest-built jewel in that crown, providing clean power for hundreds of thousands of households.”
DONG Energy currently has 1 GW of offshore wind in operation, construction or planning in the UK.