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Today, Secretary of State Edward Davey joined the Prime Minister and DECC Minister Greg Barker at the opening of the World鈥檚 largest offshore wind farm, the London Array, in Margate, Kent.

With 175 wind turbines, the Array will be able to generate 630 MegaWatts of electricity, which is enough power for nearly half a million homes, or the equivalent to two-thirds of Kent.

The project was a 拢1.5 billion joint venture by energy companies DONG Energy, E.ON, and Masdar, Abu Dhabi鈥檚 state backed renewable energy company, and involved over 75 organisations and 6,700 people to bring it to fruition.

The investment has benefitted companies from all over the UK with construction supplies ranging from cable manufacturing in Yorkshire to boats from Brightlingsea to wind towers from Scotland.

Of the Array, Edward Davey said

鈥淟ondon Array is a big deal for offshore wind, a big deal for UK electricity supply and a big deal for inward investment into the UK.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the biggest offshore wind farm in the world.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a bulk generator of power feeding into the diverse mix on our grid. Half a million homes will be London Array powered. This is good news for keeping our lights on and reducing carbon emissions.

鈥淎nd it鈥檚 attracted billions of inward investment into our economy.

鈥淓veryone involved is to be congratulated for this achievement.

鈥淭he Government is reforming the market, and last week announced long term support for offshore wind, to make sure that more projects like this come to fruition.鈥�

Following a helicopter tour of the facility, the PM formally opened the wind farm with a speech in which he welcomed the investment in the UK clean energy sector and called it a 鈥渨in for local jobs, skills & growth.鈥�

The Prime Minister hailed Britain as a great place to invest and the London Array as testimony to that. He said:

鈥淭oday is very simple. It鈥檚 a triple win.

鈥淔irst of all it鈥檚 a huge win for Kent. This project has been built by some of the bravest seaman, some of the most talented engineers, some of the hardest workers, and it鈥檚 going to continue to bring benefits to people in Kent for many, many years to come.

鈥淭he second thing that it鈥檚 a big win for is renewable energy. Sometimes people wonder, 鈥楥an you really have renewable energy projects at scale?鈥�.

鈥淲hat the London Array shows - powering half a million homes, the biggest offshore wind farm anywhere in the world - it absolutely shows that you can do scale renewables and you can do them right here in Britain.

鈥淎nd that leads me to the third and I think the most important win of all, and it鈥檚 a very big win for Britain. Sometimes people wonder, 鈥楥an we in the West do big projects any more? Can we do the big investments? Isn鈥檛 that all happening somewhere else in the east and south of our world?鈥�.

鈥淚f you look at the UK you can see we can do big projects. Not only did we do a superb Olympics, but under London Crossrail is the biggest construction project anywhere in Europe.

鈥淣ot far from here is London Gateway, which is the biggest port construction taking place anywhere in Europe, and here you have the biggest offshore construction anywhere in the world.

鈥淚 think this demonstrates Britain is a great place to invest.鈥�

He was joined in speaking by the collaborating companies, represented by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar; Dr Johannes Teyssen, CEO, E.ON; Brent Cheshire, Chairman and Managing Director, DONG Energy and Peter Loescher, President & CEO, Siemens.

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