Together with Norwegian Statkraft, the Danish energy company DONG has been awarded a wind turbine licence off the island of Walney in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland in the Round 2 UK Offshore Windfarm Tender. DONG is the operator.

The licence covers an area of about 75 square kilometres, about 15 kilometres offshore. With an expected capacity of about 450 MW, this will thus be one of the world's largest offshore windfarms.

The awarded licence initially covers the site investigation phase. An actual application for construction of the windfarm must subsequently be lodged in the year 2006 at the latest.

This is the second time that DONG and Statkraft participate in the development of wind power in the UK. Earlier this year, DONG and Statkraft, jointly with the UK energy company Centrica, acquired Barrow Offshore Windfarm, which is situated about 10 kilometres from the Walney licence.

The two wind turbine projects underpin DONG's objective of growth in the electricity area and the renewable energy area in Northern Europe.

"We are delighted to have been awarded this licence in the UK where we now participate in two offshore windfarm projects. In Denmark we have expertise from the offshore area and from other offshore windfarm projects, and it is this expertise that we can now draw on", says Anders Eldrup, President and CEO.