Galloper offshore wind farm funding secured

Funding has been secured for a delayed £1.5bn wind farm off the coast of Suffolk.

RWE Innogy UK's Galloper project had been delayed after Scottish & Southern Electricity (SSE) pulled out of the project last year.

RWE said three new partners had been found for the 56-turbine project which will create 700 jobs during construction and 100 maintenance posts.

The company said the wind farm would provide electricity for 336,000 homes.

Work on Galloper, located next to the existing Greater Gabbard wind farm, will begin on Monday and take three years to complete.

Toby Edmonds, project director for RWE, said: "It's been quite a journey and we've faced a few challenges, but we've got the money and we're looking forward to getting on with the project.

"We've built five similar wind farms, we're learning a lot and things are getting cheaper and, although it's always a challenge to make the numbers add up for one of these big projects, we've managed to do it and we'll start construction on-shore at Leiston [in Suffolk] on Monday."

Andrea Leadsom, government energy minister, said: "This is fantastic news for the region and the whole of the UK, reflecting the fact that we are open for business and the best place in the world to invest in offshore wind."

RWE will have a 25% stake in the project along with its three new partners - UK Green Investment Bank, Siemens Financial Services and Australian bank Macquarie Capital.

The partnership has also gained capital funding from 12 other commercial banks.

It is expected the wind farm will sustain 100 permanent jobs once operational.