The London Array wind farm would be located more than 20km (12 miles) from the Kent and Essex coasts in the outer Thames Estuary, in one of three strategic areas identified by the Government for offshore wind farm development. Click on the map to see the position of the wind farm relative to the coast. Up to 341 turbines would occupy an area of up to around 245km2 on and between two sandbanks, Long Sand and Kentish Knock, in water up to 23 metres deep.

The site is bounded to the west by Black Deep, the main approach to the Port of London, and to the south by the approaches to Fisherman’s Gat. The water depth increases fairly rapidly to the east of the site, into an area used by shipping. However, there are no major shipping channels within the site, and Long Sand and Kentish Knock provide natural barriers for two sides of the site.

Key advantages offered by this site are:
• High wind speeds
• Low water depth
• Proximity of nearby ports for construction, operation and maintenance
• Minimum interference with established shipping channels
• Suitable ground conditions
• Suitable grid connection
• Proximity of power demand (South East England has the highest demand for electricity in the UK).

The turbines would be arranged in rows and columns aligned according to the prevailing south-westerly wind.

The wind farm would be connected by undersea cables to a proposed new onshore substation at Cleve Hill, on the North Kent coast. From the substation, the electricity would be fed into the existing 400kV transmission network. Click on the map to see its location.