Dutch design practice Royal HaskoningDHV has announced that Swedish energy company Vattenfall has received an approval from the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for an extension to the existing Kentish Flats offshore wind farm, located off the north coast of Kent, UK.
The scope of the project involves installation of 17 new turbines, which will escalate the power generation capacity of the plant to reach 141MW. The extra power generated by the Kentish Flats extension will offset power requirements of approximately 20,000 to 35,000 households in the UK every year.
The Kentish Flats extension project has now entered the detailed design work and further environmental baseline studies phase. Currently, Vattenfall is engaged in making preparation for construction, which is expected to commence in 2015.
Royal HaskoningDHV has been involved in the project since 2009 and has undertaken feasibility study to assess potentially extending the existing wind farm. The company has steered the project from the scoping and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) stages, through to the submission of the Development Consent Order in October 2011 and the subsequent examination process.