The Shell-Royal Dutch Group has joined with other energy firms to submit plans for a £1.5bn wind farm, which would be the world’s biggest.
The River Thames will host 270 wind turbines on offshore platforms at a distance of 100km from London, if the planning application is successful. These will supply around 1,000MW of electricity and provide the national grid with enough power for over 750,000 homes – a quarter of London.
Shell will own a third of the London Array project and E.On another third. The remaining third will be held by Core, a joint venture between Farm Energy and Denmark's Energi E2 A/S.
The group said the wind farm could be built by 2011 if permission were granted before the end of 2006. The plant would cut 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year and could make up 10% of the government's 2010 target.
