E.ON has welcomed the news that it has been awarded the exclusive right to develop a large-scale offshore wind farm off the Sussex coastline by The Crown Estate.

The company which already has three offshore wind farms in UK waters and is a partner in the London Array, has been awarded Zone 6, located around 20km off the South Coast, in The Crown Estate's Round 3 offshore wind initiative.

Michael Lewis, European Managing Director for E.ON's Renewables business, said: "This is excellent news for us and is recognition of our expertise with offshore wind in the UK and perfectly complements our existing offshore pipeline of over 3,000MW.

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"We were early pioneers in the area with the country's first offshore wind farm at Blyth and one of the first commercial scale schemes at Scroby Sands off Great Yarmouth.

"These schemes are getting bigger and bigger all the time and making a larger and larger contribution to the fight against climate change which is why we see it as a vital part of our generation portfolio in the UK."

E.ON will soon start detailed environmental and engineering surveys within the zone to fully understand the potential of the area, but the company currently believes it will support a wind farm of around 650MW.

(CD/GK)