Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm

Development of an offshore wind farm site near Clacton-on-Sea began in 1996 under Windmaster Developments;[4] Windmaster was acquired by Enron in 2000, and passed to General Electric (GE Wind Energy) in 2002.[5] A Round 1 concession for the development was awarded in 2001, and planning consents obtained in 2003/4.[1][6][7]

In June 2006 a consent application and environmental statement was submitted to the Department of Trade and Industry for permission to build and operate an extension (Gunfleet Sands 2) to the originally consented project, including up to 22 further turbines with an additional capacity of 64MW.[8] In December 2006 Dong Energy acquired the 100MW "Gunfleet 1" project from GE.[9]

A contract for 30 Siemens Wind Power 3.6MW turbines was signed in April 2007.[10]

Planning application for Gunfleet Sands 2 was submitted to the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in June 2007,[11] and permission was received in 2008.[1]

Turbines visible from Clacton-on-Sea beyond Clacton Pier

Construction began in 2008, with initial work including onshore infrastructure and cable installation.[11] A formal groundbreaking ceremony was held in April 2008.[12] The first turbine was installed in April 2009.[13]

MT Højgaard was contracted to instal the monopile foundations; work started in October 2008;[14] Sif supplied the monopiles and transition pieces,[15] and Smulders supplied the wind turbine foundations,[16]

The cabling was supplied by Prysmian,[17][18] Bladt Industries constructed the offshore monopile substation superstructure,[18][19] with electrical equipment supplied by Areva T&D and ABB Group.[18]

Construction of the wind farm was delayed, in part due to cable laying company Oceanteam going into administration in May 2009, as well as the breakdown of liftboat KS Titan 2.[20]

Electrical generation from the partially complete wind farm began in August 2009.[21] The wind farm was fully operational by March 2010; the wind farm was formally opened on 15 June 2010 by Anders Eldrup (Dong Energy) and UK Energy minister Charles Hendry. Cost of the development was 4 billion Danish Kroner.[22] Large scale development of wind farms in the UK was made possible by generous subsidies - in 2010 wind farms were receiving 1.20 Danish Kroner per kWh, compared to approximately 0.50 Kroner (Horns Rev 2) in Denmark.[23]

An operations and service center was built in Brightlingsea on the site of a former boatyard.[24][25][26]

Satellite image of the Thames Estuary with Gunfleet Sands top left.

The wind farm produced between 450 and 520 GWh between 2010 and 2012, with a capacity factor of 31-35% (2011/12).[27]

The electrical transmission assets of the wind farm were divested in July 2011 to TC Gunfleet Sands OFTO Limited in response to changes in governmental legislation.[28] In September 2011 Marubeni Corporation acquired a 49.9% shareholding of the project for £200 million.[29] In 2013 Marubeni divested part of its stake to the Development Bank of Japan.[30]

During the St Jude storm of October 2013, wind speeds of 65 metres per second (150 mph) were measured at the wind farm.[31]