World’s biggest offshore wind farm in UK receives go ahead

The world's largest offshore wind farm, which would be built in UK waters had received the go ahead, Mail Online reported.

The ambitious scheme had been granted permission for planning by energy secretary Ed Davey. The wind farm could cost over £10.5 billion in green subsidies.

Under the plan 400 turbines would be erected in a giant grid 80 miles off the Yorkshire coast, covering 430 sq miles in the area known as Dogger Bank.

The Creyke Beck wind farms would be over twice the size of the world's biggest offshore wind farm, currently, the London Array.

The turbines would power 1.8 million homes – about 2.5 per cent of the UK's entire electricity requirement.

The building costs of the would be paid by Forewind, an international consortium of energy companies SSE, RWE, Statkraft and Statoil.

However, in the event of the inclusion of the plan in the government's subsidy scheme, Contracts for Difference, the firms could expect to make their money back within a decade as it would guarantee them a fixed price for the electricity they produced.

The decision on inclusion in the Contracts for Difference would be made by 2017 by whoever was energy secretary at the time, and then Forewind would decide whether to start construction or not.

The development, which, according to estimates would cost between £6 billion and £8 billion, would emerge as one of the UK's largest power generators – second to the Drax coal-fired station in North Yorkshire - and its biggest source of renewable energy, The Independent reported.

The development would support 900 jobs according to estimates.

On completion, Dogger Bank could create up to 4,750 new direct and indirect full-time equivalent jobs, and generate over £1.5 billion for the UK economy according to Forewind.

Davey hailed the project a ''great boost'' for Yorkshire and Humberside, as the government attempted to boost the economies of northern cities.

''Making the most of Britain's home grown energy is creating jobs and businesses in the UK, getting the best deal for consumers and reducing our reliance on foreign imports. Wind power was vital to this plan, with £14.5 billion invested since 2010 into an industry which supports 35,400 jobs.''

Hailing the project as ''awesome'' Nick Medic, director of offshore renewables at RenewableUK, said, the wind industry association, said it was likely the most significant infrastructure projects ever undertaken by the wind industry.