Queen goes for world’s biggest wind turbine

The property company of the British royal domain, the Crown Estate, owned by Queen Elizabeth, has decided to invest in the largest wind turbine in the world, which will have a capacity of 7.5 megawatts and will be installed in a wind farm off the coast of the United Kingdom.

Queen Elizabeth is clearly making a big green investment in the tallest wind turbine in the world, according to the statements from her company the Crown Estate.

The Queens Crown Estate manages the portfolio of assets associated with the British Crown.

Previously, it was all property owned by the generations of rulers, but now it has evolved into a unique institution which transfers its revenues to the national government.

The Crown Estate is one of the largest landowners of the United Kingdom.

The majority of the valuable land is urban, including a large number of properties in central London, but it also includes more than 110 000 hectares of forest and farmland, over 55% of the British coastline and holds many rights and interests .

The Crown Estate, which owns a large portion of the seabed off the shores of the United Kingdom, regularly rents this land for wind farm projects but has never invested directly in wind power.

With a capacity of 7.5 megawatts, the Crown Estate has opted for the largest wind turbine in the world.

Ben Barton the new royal wind farms manager (note the plural farms) say he expects the project to raise a few eyebrows.

At a conference on energy held in Aberdeen, Mr Barton said that the Crown Estate had decided to make this investment in the largest wind turbine in the world, to help overcome difficulties related to the supply of turbines, which it considers as one of the main constraints which impeded the construction of wind farms at sea

The turbine purchased by Queen Elizabeth will be built by the manufacturer of wind turbines, US company Clipper Windpower, and will be fully operational by 2010, according to Mr Barton.

This project alone, that will be known as the Britannia project, is expected to cost $65 million, and in order to be completed it will need new advancements in technology.

The entire electricity generated by wind power will be sold to the national grid. The Crown Estate is currently studying some areas off the north-east of England as a potential site for the project

http://uk.reuters.com/article/UK_SMALLCAPSRPT/idUKL2141885720080521
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-22-02.asp