The development comprises 200 turbines, each the height of a skyscraper and spread over an area the size of Glasgow.
The planned wind farm, which is three to four times bigger than any previously built, is expected to earn its Dutch owners Eneco more than a quarter of a billion pounds a year in subsidies alone.
The scheme has already attracted widespread criticism with opponents claiming it will ruin coastal views for generations to come. The Royal Yacht Squadron, the world’s most prestigious sailing club whose patron is the Queen and which is headed by the Duke of Edinburgh, is also orchestrating a campaign against it.
It fears the wind farm could impact on the main sailing route from the Isle of Wight to the south west, including the Fastnet Race, which starts in Cowes and finishes in Plymouth.
Eneco has submitted notice of its plans – in a 173-page report – to a special Government body set up to deal with ‘national significant’ infrastructure projects.
Subsidy farm.
Make them fund removal of every turbine and every footing with their own money up front. Then take away their subsidies. See if it makes actual economic sense. Then discuss environmental impacts, safety of shipping and sailing, and aesthetics. Then compare it to more sane alternatives – like a floating nuclear plant tethered to only 10 of those wind turbine pylons but in a far more compact, pleasing, effective and efficient utility.