The consortium planning to build the world’s largest wind farm off the Kent coast has been given the green light from the government for its offshore planning applications.

The massive array of 341 turbines in 144 sq miles, will if built, displace nearly 2 million tonnes of CO2 a year. The wind farm would also generate enough electricity to power 750,000 homes, equivalent to a quarter of Greater London’s households or every home in Kent and East Sussex.

The 1,000MW capability is equivalent to a standard gas fired power station and is the first of a number of large-scale offshore wind farms in the UK.

But consent is only for the offshore part of the project. The London Array as it is called, is actually two areas of turbines, a second smaller collection of turbines is also planned for a 21 sq mile location off North Foreland, Kent. Both wind farms need a substation connection to the National Grid and the most suitable place for this is Graveney, Kent. However, Swale Borough Council has refused planning permission for the onshore substation.

The onshore application will now go to public enquiry.

An extensive survey of the Kent and Essex coasts was carried out before Graveney was chosen as the only viable location for the substation. This is needed to bring ashore the 1,000 megawatts of electricity that the London Array wind farm would generate. Because of the large amount of electricity that London Array would produce, the wind farm needs to be connected to the main 400 kilovolt transmission network operated by the National Grid. This effectively ruled out many other locations with lower voltage grid connections.

The London Array wind farm is being developed by a consortium comprising three partners. The wind farm would be located more than 20km (12 miles) from the Kent and Essex coasts in the outer Thames Estuary, one of the three strategic areas the government has identified for offshore wind farm development.