London Array

Wind Project Site

Title: London Array

Status:

In Operation

Project Manager:

RWE Renewables (RWE)

Turbine Developer:

Siemens

Website:

External Link

Construction Start:

July 1, 2009

Operation Start:

April 6, 2013

Info Last Updated:

October 24, 2024

Contact:

Lynn Austin
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Details

Technology:

Fixed Offshore Wind

Project Scale:

Commercial Farm

Turbine Model:

SWT-3.6-120

Hub Height:

80 m

Rotor Diameter:

120 m

Number of Turbines:

175

Capacity per Turbine:

3.6 MW

Installed Capacity:

630 MW

Support Structure:

Monopile

Inter-Array Cables:

33 kV

Export Cables:

AC, Buried Seafloor Cables

Export Cable Voltage:

150 kV

Number of Export Cables:

Cable Landfall:

Trenched

Physical Site:

Shallow Water (<60m), Marine, Hard-Bottom Habitat

Water Depth:

1.5-25 m

Distance from Shore:

20 km

Country:

United Kingdom

Description

At the time of its inauguration in 2013, RWE’s London Array offshore wind farm was the largest offshore wind farm in the world. It occupies and area of 107 square kilometres and has a capacity of 630 MW. Its 175 Siemens 3.6 MW turbines generate enough clean electricity to power around 500,000 British homes while displacing around 900,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.

Location

The London Array offshore wind farm is located 20km off the Kent coast in the Outer Thames Estuary. It is maintained and operated from the Port of Ramsgate and has a grid connection point of Cleve Hill.

Licensing Information

May 2009: Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), Formal Approval for phase 1
December 2008: Swale Borough Council, approval for the Cleve Hill substation
August 2007: United Kingdom NationalGrid, Onshore application
December 2006: FEPA, Offshore work consented

Project Timeline

April 2023: Tenth Year in Operation
April 6, 2013: Fully Commissioned
October 2012: Construction Completed and power production began
July 1, 2011: 2 Offshore Substations installed
July 2009: Construction Started
August 2007: London Array project team was established
December 18, 2006: Offtake Conditionally Secured
June 2005: Applied for planning consent

Key Environmental Issues

As part of the planning and licensing process for London Array, a series of environmental studies were carried out and reported on. The findings were summarised in the Environmental Statement (non-technical summary).

Various ecological mitigation measures were identified and agreed to safeguard the integrity of the project site. These measures are detailed in the Ecological Mitigation and Management Plan.

A three-year post-construction benthic monitoring programme was completed. This programme involved collection of grab and trawl samples at nearly 300 locations followed by all the associated microbenthic and Particle Size Distribution (PSD) sample analyses to test for potential impacts within the wind farm and in areas near the turbines themselves. A detailed analysis of datasets spanning the pre- and post-construction periods was subsequently conducted to validate the predictions made during the Environmental Impact Assessment

Metadata Documents

Wind Energy Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals: Case Study on London Array (Olabi et al. 2023)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm: Ornithology Aerial Survey Report 2013 / 2014 (APEM Ltd 2016)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm Year 1 Post-Construction Monitoring Report (MarineSpace Ltd 2015)
LONDON ARRAY WINDFARM: EXPORT CABLE ROUTE POST-CONSTRUCTION SURVEY (EGS Ltd. 2014)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm: Ornithology Aerial Survey Report 2012-2013 (APEM Ltd 2013)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm Project: Decommissioning Programme (Blue Transmission 2013)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm Project - Aerial Bird Survey Report Winter 2010/11 & 2011/12 (Zones 1 & 2) (APEM Ltd 2012)
Modelling the abundance and area use of wintering Red-throated Divers in the Outer Thames Estuary (Skov et al. 2012)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm Project - Aerial survey methods, data collection and statistical analysis (APEM Ltd 2010)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm Spring 2010 Pre-Construction Fish Survey (Brown & May Marine 2010)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm: Pre-Construction Fish Survey Spring 2010 (Brown & May Marine 2010)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm Project - Pre-Construction Marine Environmental Monitoring Plan (Henson 2010)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm Project - Ecological Mitigation and Management Plan (Proudler and Henson 2007)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm Project - Environmental Statement (RPS group 2005)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm Project: Field Survey Report - Benthic Sampling using Beam Trawls, Otter Trawls and Day Grabs in the Thames Estuary during 2003 and 2004 (Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies Ltd (CMACS) 2005)
Intertidal survey of proposed LAL cable landing at Cleve Hill, September 2004 (Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies Ltd (CMACS) 2004)
Review of red-throated diver prey species in the Thames Estuary (Pollock and Barton 2004)
London Array Offshore Wind Farm Project - Environmental Impact Assessment Scoping Reports (Jenner 2004)

Phase	Stressor & Receptor	Design and Methods	Results	Publications	Data
Baseline	Fish	Beam and Trawl Surveys Otter and beam trawl pre-construction juvenile and adult fish surveys were undertaken in spring 2010 for the London Array Offshore Wind Farm development.	Complete During the otter trawl surveys, a total of 21 species were caught, 19 within the wind farm site and 15 at control locations. The thornback ray was the species caught in the greatest numbers. During beam trawl surveys, a total of 17 fish species were caught, 8 at control locations and 15 withing the wind farm site. Solenette and Dover sole were the most abundant species in the locations.	Brown & May Marine 2010	2010, Brown and May Marine Ltd., London Array Offshore Wind Farm, Spring 2010 Pre-Construction Fish Survey
Baseline	Invertebrates	GPS Surveys Surveys of the main biotope boundaries were carried out using a Garmin GPS system with a quoted accuracy of +/- 10m. The survey was carried out on the morning of Tuesday 28th September, on a moderately large spring tide	Complete In this survey, areas within/adjacent to the mussel beds appeared to very closely match the biotope LMU.Smu.HedMac (Hediste and Macoma balthica on littoral sandy muds).	Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies Ltd (CMACS) 2004	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Fish	Otter and Beam Trawling and Sample Analysis A commercial demersal trawl with a 100mm cod-end liner was used for sampling. The juvenile fish/epibenthic survey was undertaken using a 2-metre scientific beam trawl. The survey was undertaken from the 20th to the 25th March 2010.	Complete A total of 21 species were caught in the otter trawl, 19 within the wind farm site and 15 at control locations. Thornback ray was the species caught in the greatest numbers. A total of 17 fish species were caught in the beam trawl, eight at control locations and 15 within the wind farm site. Solenette and Dover sole were the most abundant species. One elasmonbranch species, the lesser spotted dogfish, was caught at both the wind farm and control locations.	Brown & May Marine 2010	2010, Brown and May Marine, London Array, Spring Fish Survey
Baseline	Physical Environment	Benthic Surveys Trawl (beam and otter) surveys were completed April 21-27, 2003, July 7-15, 2003, December 6-11, 2003, and February 20-26, 2004. On each occasion trawls were carried out at 43 locations around the study area and 17 locations along the cable route options. A grab sampling survey was carried out during the summer of 2004.	Complete The most abundant taxa included: Magelona johnstoni, Bathyporeia elegans, Nephtys cirrose, Spiophanes bombyx, and Mysella bidentata.	Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies Ltd (CMACS) 2005	2003-2004, CMACS Ltd., London Array Offshore Wind Farm, Benthic Sampling using Beam Trawls, Otter Trawls and Day Grabs in the Thames Estuary during 2003 and 2004
Operations	Habitat Change Birds, Fish, Marine Mammals, Physical Environment	Trawl, Grab, and Aerial Surveys The benthic grab sampling survey was undertaken July 16-31, 2014. A commercial otter trawl fish survey was conducted in November 2013 and April 2014. High-definition aerial surveys to record the presence of birds and marine mammals were conducted during the winter period from November 2013 – February 2014.	Complete A total of 291 distinct species were recorded during the 2014 grab sampling survey. The most abundant species were the bivalvue mollusc, Abra alba and polychaete worm, Magelona johnstoni. A total of 24 species of fish and shellfish were caught in the November 2013 otter trawl and a total of 23 fish and shellfish species were caught during the April 2014 otter trawl. During the bird surveys, a total of 14 bird species, 2 bird species groups, a single species of marine mammal, and a marine mammal group were recorded.	MarineSpace Ltd 2015	2013-2015, MarineSpace Ltd., London Array, Year 1 Post-construction Monitoring Report
Operations	Displacement Birds	Aerial Surveys Aerial surveys were conducted during 2013 and 2014 at the London Array Offshore Wind Farm site and a buffer around the wind farm.	Complete The majority of divers recorded were red-throated divers and the remainder were recorded as black-throated divers and great northern divers. Total diver numbers peaked in December 2013 with 5,748 estimated to be present.	APEM Ltd 2016	No data publicly available.
Construction	Displacement Birds, Marine Mammals	Aerial Surveys Aerial surveys of the proposed London Array Ltd. Offshore wind farm site, and associated control zones, for birds and marine mammals was undertaken between November 2009 and May 2010.	Complete The findings of the four surveys demonstrate that the London Array area is used by a number of species throughout the winter season. Red-throated diver and other bird species were most abundant in January 2010 and least abundant in April 2010. Marine mammals were recorded in three out of four surveys.	APEM Ltd 2010	2009-2010, APEM, London Array, Aerial Ornithology Survey
Construction	Displacement Birds	Aerial Bird Surveys The London Array Offshore Wind Farm site was surveyed eight times, once a month between November and February, during the winters of 2010/11 and 2011/12 using digital high resolution still imagery. 2012/2013 aerial surveys were carried out during the second winter. The site plus a buffer around the wind farm in the Outer Thames estuary was surveyed four time (once per month in November, December, January, and February) during the winter of 2012/2013. A control zone was surveyed with the same frequency over the same period.	Complete The most abundantly counted species included: diver species, small gull species, gannet, kittiwake, guillemot/razorbill, and auk species. Divers abundance increased across both survey zones throughout the winter of 2010/11. Numbers of divers were lowest in November 2010. In 2012/2013 the majority of divers recorded were red-throated divers. The remainder were recorded as black-throated and great northern divers. High concentrations of divers were recorded in the norther part of zone 1 as well as along the north-east border of zone 1 in January and February 2013.	APEM Ltd 2012, APEM Ltd 2013	No data publicly available.