By: Brian Kahn
The UK is quickly becoming the epicenter of the offshore
wind industry. Point in case: On Monday, the first part of the world’s largest
and furthest offshore wind farm came online.
The first workers were shuttled 75 miles off the east coast from Grimsby,
UK, to the Hornsea One wind farm, which is partially operational. When it comes
fully online next year, it will be capable of generating enough electricity to
power a million homes. Right now, it’s “only” capable of powering up to 287,000
homes. But the opening of the farm coupled with plans to construct a twin
behemoth nearby shows that offshore wind is growing in leaps and bounds.
The massive wind farm
currently has 50 of its 174 turbines spinning. When completed, the project will
have a generating capacity of 1.2 gigawatts, more than double the capacity of
the current largest offshore wind installation (which is also in the UK).
Because of its distance from shore, the team responsible for operating them
will spend four weeks at sea before returning to port where another team will
head on out and take their place.