What are offshore windfarms?

What do they look like?

Many of us may have noticed the crop of modern day windmills popping up across the British and European countryside and cities.

A wind turbine erected in 2003 at Britain’s first major offshore wind farm in North Hoyle.

Library filer dated 18/11/2002 of a Powergen worker walking past the largest wind farm in Scotland, near Peebles.

A wind farm that is 5 km away from the coast will look like this one. Future wind farms are planned to be further away from the coast and will probably not be visible.

As these pictures illustrate, an offshore wind turbine looks very similar except that it is located out at sea. A collection of these wind turbines is known as an offshore wind farm.

Current developments (Round One) around the UK coast are located in territorial waters (up to 12 miles off the coast) and can be distantly seen from shore.

One of these developments, Scroby Sands, can be seen if you look out to sea from Yarmouth.

Future plans (Round Two) will put more wind farms far outside of territorial waters where they will not be visible from land. Wind turbines may look small from the coast but close up the standard 2-megawatt wind turbine stands about 60 metres above sea level with a rotor diameter of 80 metres.

Future turbines are likely to be larger with a generating capacity of 3-5 MW and will reach 150-160 metres in height.

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