Site Statistics

· Number of wind turbines - As it is early in the development process, the megawatt size of the turbines to be used is undecided and it will be dependent upon the generating capacity of the turbines available at the time of construction. A range of turbines with generating capacity between 3.6MW and 8MW are currently being considered. The number of turbines which will be installed therefore ranges from 188 to 417.

· Installed capacity of the project - We have been awarded the rights to develop an offshore wind farm with a capacity of up to 1,500 megawatts (MW).

· Energy generation - The annual generation expected at the site would be equivalent to the approximate domestic needs of around 1.1 million average UK households¹.  This is equivalent to over 40% of the domestic electricity consumption for the South West of England or over 90% of the domestic electricity consumption for Wales².

· Geography - The site extends over approximately 492 km2 in an average water depth of 45 metres.  At the closest point to shore it would be around 14 kilometres from the North Devon coast and 16 kilometres from the South Wales coast.

Notes

¹Energy predicted to be generated by the proposal is derived using long term wind speeds calculated by meteorological models seeded with historical weather data obtained from satellite, surface-based and airborne measurement systems.  This enables a calculation to be made to estimate the average annual energy production for the site based on 250 turbines each of rated capacity 6.15 MW. The energy capture predicted and hence derived homes equivalent or emissions savings figures may change as further data are gathered."

Equivalent homes supplied is based on an annual electricity consumption per home of 4700 kWh. This figure is supported by recent domestic electricity consumption data available from The Digest of UK Energy Statistics and household estimates and projections from the UK Statistics Authority.

²Regional and local electricity consumption statistics sourced from The Department of Energy and Climate Change Energy Trends December 2008.