Gunfleet Sands Windfarm, off Clacton-on-Sea, North Thames Estuary, North Sea. - Windmills on Waymarking.com

Words from Wikipedia and the information board at Holland-on-Sea:-

Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm is a 172 MW wind farm about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) off the Clacton-on-Sea coast in the Northern Thames Estuary.

The 108MW Gunfleet Sands 1 wind farm gained planning consent in 2003/4. An application for a second wind farm, 64MW Gunfleet Sands 2 and adjacent to the first, received consent in 2008. Construction of both wind farms using Siemens Wind Power SWT-3.6-107 turbines took place between 2008 and 2010.

Gunfleet Sands 1 & 2 are located 7km south east of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, in water at depths of 2m to 15m (the spring tidal range is ~4.6m); Gunfleet 1 consists of 30 turbines in a 5x6 array, whilst Gunfleet 2 consists of a 9x2 array of 18 turbines and is directly adjacent to the southeast. The installed capacities are 108MW and 64MW respectively using Siemens Wind Power 3.6MW turbines. These turbines have a rotor diameter of 107m and are mounted with a maximum height of 129m from blade tip to sea level, the total weight of each tower/turbine is 1430tonnes and the average wind speed is 8.8m/s at an elevation of 60m.

The offshore turbines connect to a 33kV offshore substation, which steps up the transmission voltage to 132kV, the national network voltage, the export cable making landfall at Holland Haven (nr. Holland-on-Sea), and underground cables connect it to the National Grid at the Cooks Green substation.

Construction began in 2008, the first turbine was installed in April 2009, and electrical generation from the partially complete wind farm began in August 2009. The wind farm was fully operational by March 2010 and formally opened on 15 June 2010. Cost of the development was 4 billion Danish Kroner, approximately £417,000,000.

The operations and service center is built in Brightlingsea on the site of a former boatyard.

There is an information board on The Esplanade seafront walk in Holland-on-Sea at N51°48.404' E001°12.625' from where the pictures were taken.

Date of Manufacture: 01/01/2008 Purpose: Electricity Open to the public: no Is This Windmill Functional?: Yes! Windmill Farm: yes Museum on Site: no Cost: Not Listed

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