Third Thames Estuary application for wind project

The latest application for consents for a large scale UK offshore wind farm has been lodged by Thanet Offshore Wind (TOW), a subsidiary of Warwick Energy Limited. The project is the third application under the UK's second round of larger wind farms further out to sea. All three projects are located in the Outer Thames Estuary off the south-east of England -- one of the areas identified by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for large scale wind farm development. The area is less than 50 kilometres from London. TOW's 300 MW wind farm is expected to cost over £300 million. It comprises between 60 and 100 wind turbines sited 11.5 kilometres north east of Thanet off east Kent. Mark Pettersen from TOW says the project has the support of local people. Results from questionnaires at a series of public exhibitions show that 73% of people are in favour of the project, 20% are undecided and only 7% are against. TOW expects that construction contracts for the project to be complete in 2006, with construction during 2007-2008.