The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has given planning consent to Forewind consortium for construction of the 2.4GW Teesside A and B offshore wind farms along England’s north-east coast.
The wind project will include two offshore wind generating stations, each of which will have an installed capacity of up to 1.2GW.
Equipped with up to 400 wind turbines in total, the farms will be able to meet the energy requirements of up to 1.8 million homes in the UK.
Claimed to be the largest offshore project in the world, it is being developed by Forewind, a consortium formed by energy giants SSE, RWE, Statkraft and Statoil.
The project is expected to generate more than £1.5bn for the UK economy during its operational lifetime, Forewind said.
UK Energy and Climate Change Minister Lord Bourne said: "As we build the northern powerhouse, we want local communities to reap the benefits of investment and green jobs from low-carbon developments like Dogger Bank Offshore wind project."
The Crown Estate, which manages UK seabed, granted Forewind the rights for the project in early 2010.
The Crown Estate offshore wind head Huub den Rooijen said: "The scale of the Dogger Bank projects offers a significant opportunity to continue to drive down costs, create high value jobs and support the UK’s transition to a low carbon energy supply."
Image: The Teesside A and B offshore farms in UK will feature 400 wind turbines. Photo: courtesy of The Crown Estate.
