Nexans, Paris, has won a contract worth approximately $143 million to design, manufacture and supply the high-voltage subsea power export cables that will connect the London Array wind farm to the UK's electrical grid. The contract was placed with Nexans by the consortium of DONG Energy, E.ON and Masdar, which is currently building the world's largest offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary. The wind farm is being installed on site located approximately 12 miles off the United Kingdom's coast.
Construction is taking place in two phases: the first phase of 630 MW, comprising 175 turbines, is expected to be completed and generating power in 2012; the future second phase will add capacity to bring the total to 1,000 MW. When complete, the wind farm will supply enough power for around 750,000 homes in the United Kingdom. Each of the four 150 kV XLPE submarine power cables will be manufactured by the Nexans factory in Halden, Norway, and will be up to 34 miles in continuous length. Nexans press release