London Array has set a new record for the amount of clean electricity produced by an offshore wind farm in a single calendar month, E.ON said in a release.
December 2015 saw the wind farm’s 175 turbines generate 369,000 MWh of electricity – 52,000 MWh more compared to the previous best of 317,000 MWh set last November. The capacity factor for the month, which saw average wind speeds of 11.9m/s (27mph), was 78.9 per cent.
“Both the monthly and annual figures are excellent results for London Array and show the contribution we are making to the country’s energy supply as well as the UK’s renewable energy targets,” Jonathan Duffy, General Manager of London Array, said.
The two successive months of production brought net overall output for the year to some 2,500,000 MWh, enough to meet the needs of more than 600,000 UK households, E.ON said.
“Above average winds this winter have helped push production higher but that is only part of the story: we have a great team of people who support the operation and maintenance of the wind farm,” Duffy said.
”We have pushed very hard over the past year to build on our earlier successes and develop our approach to turbine maintenance and repair. Together with key contractors DONG Energy and Siemens we have focused on operational efficiency and expanding the amount of time our technicians are able to work offshore. This has helped ensure we extracted the maximum power from the wind and kept turbine availability above 98 per cent over the winter. Our performance is also good news for the environment as it will have prevented the release of some 1,075,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2015, the main gas linked to climate change.”
London Array Limited is owned by a consortium of E.ON (30%), DONG Energy (25%) and Masdar (20%) – and La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (25%).