Kentish Flats is one of the groundbreaking offshore wind farms in the UK in the first decade of the 21st century. At its installation and completion in 2005, it had the tallest wind turbine in the UK at 115 meters.
At 90 MW and the largest wind farm offshore at the time, it significantly boosted the wind power industry’s offshore ambitions. Ten years and many gigawatt-scale farms later, the wind industry welcomes the Kentish Flats Extension, a 49.5 MW addition to the national grid capacity.
Today, this model of taking a ‘stepping stone’ approach is a proven method. It is also being applied by the Crown Estate to farms like Erebus Wind Farm and the exploration of other floating offshore wind farms in the Celtic sea.
Likewise, a ‘stepping stone’ approach is also a credible way to build the supply chain and stimulate steady investments in the sector. In 2025, Kentish Flats Wind Farm will hit its 20th anniversary of delivering renewable energy to Kent County.
Where is Kentish Flats offshore Wind farm?
Kentish Flats is situated close to the heart of England, at the mouth of the Thames, where the river reaches the North Sea. North and East of Kent coast are home to many offshore wind farms, but Kentish Flats was the first to operate in 2005.
It is 9 km north of Herne Bay and only 10 km away from Whitstable, the location of its former operation and maintenance base.
The Kentish Flats maintenance base moved from Whitstable to Port of Ramsgate in 2015, coinciding with the expansion of Kentish Flats that went online in December 2015. The wind farm extension is a 15-turbine project juxtaposed to the Kentish Flats offshore wind farm, close to the South and Southwest of the original farm.
With 30 turbines for Kentish Flats and 15 turbines in the extension, the array of rotor blades is visible along the shipping lanes in the Thames.
The electric cables reach the North Kent coast via landfall at Hampton pier. The export cables eventually connect to the national grid via the Herne Bay Substation.
Who owns Kentish Flats?
Vattenfall owns and operates 100% of the Kentish Flats and the Kentish Flats extension.
Additionally, the company operates and owns Thanet Offshore Wind Farm in the North Sea, a different 300 MW wind farm in Kent.
How large is the offshore wind farm project?
The Kentish Flats operates its 30 turbines on five rows of 6 six turbines grid. The turbines are spaced 700 meters apart, both across columns and rows. The total area for the first project is 10 square kilometers and was expanded in 2015 with an additional 7.77 square kilometers by the Kent Flats extension, pushing the project’s total size to nearly 18 square kilometers.
| Specification | Kentish Flats | Kentish Flats Extension | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turbines | 30 | 15 | 45 |
| Turbine Power | 3.0 MW | 3.3 MW | n/a |
| Total Power | 90 MW | 49.5 MW | 139.5 MW |
| Area | 10 sq. km | 7.7 sq. km | 17.7 sq. km |
| Commissioning | 2005 | 2015 | n/a |
Is it a fixed or floating foundation?
The average water depth in the farm is only five metres, so fixed foundations are used to stabilize the turbines. Each transition piece weighs 160 tons and is lodged onto a monopile foundation before attaching to the seabed.
How much energy does this project produce?
The project has an installed capacity of 139.5 MW, combining the power of the first farm and the Kentish Flats extension.
The first project delivers 280 gigawatt-hours, while the extension project delivers 150 gigawatt-hours annually. Both projects provide electricity to an estimated 90,000 UK households.
When was Kentish Flats’ first power?
The original project delivered the first power of clean wind energy in September 2005.
The expansion project’s power came 10 years later in 2015
Kentish Flats Turbines
Turbines are the want we convert the renewable energy source of wind into wind energy. They are essential for a wind farm, and it is crucial to understand the turbines’ size and scale.
Vattenfall installed 30 wind turbines in the first Kentish Flats offshore wind farm, plus 15 turbines were installed in the Kentish Flats extension, pushing the total to 45 wind turbines.
Who makes the turbines?
Vestas Offshore Wind was contracted to build, deliver, and maintain the turbines for the first and the extension projects.
What is the turbine model?
Vestas installed V90 Vestas wind turbines for the first project. According to Vestas, more than 1,000 turbines of this model have been established since its first production and released to the market in 2002. While V90’s tower is 115 m tall, the rotor diameter and hub height are enormous at 90m and 70m, respectively.
V112 3.3 MW Vestas were used for the extension to push the capacity by an additional 49.5 MW.
How much turbine capacity?
3 MW is the installed capacity from each Vestas wind turbine for the first 30 turbines, giving the farm 90 MW of power. For the Kentish Flats Extension, 3.3 MW Vestas turbines added 49.5 of capacity to the wind farm.