The go-ahead for one of the UK's largest offshore wind farms to date will be announced by the Prime Minister today, in a speech to business leaders.

The 500MW West of Duddon Sands wind farm is planned near Walney Island off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria and will comprise of up to 139 turbines. The developers, Morecambe Wind Limited, estimate the wind farm could provide the equivalent of around 372,000 homes with clean, green electricity.

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Energy Secretary John Hutton has also approved an updated application from Ormonde Energy Limited to build a 150MW wind farm comprising of up to 30 turbines, which will also be sited near to Walney Island.

Mr Hutton said: "These wind farms demonstrate our commitment to dramatically increase the amount of energy we generate from renewable sources, helping to cut the UK's carbon emissions and secure our energy supplies.

"West of Duddon Sands will be one of the three largest wind farms approved to date and will help provide a significant contribution towards our renewable energy targets.

"Companies want to build here because we have made the UK one of the most attractive places to invest in offshore wind. It won't be long before enough offshore wind power is plugged in to the grid to make us world leaders, a fantastic achievement in less than a decade."

(CD/JM)