Last of the 67 turbines for a British wind farm installed

Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Statoil, a Norwegian oil and gas company with a footprint in renewables, said the last of the 67 turbines at a wind facility off the British coast is in place.

Statoil said the last of the 67 turbines at the Dudgeon wind farm off the British coast are in place. By next month, the facility could provide service for 410,000 average British homes at peak capacity, though phased installations meant households started receiving electricity in February.

Apart from Russia, Norway is one of the leading oil and natural gas suppliers to the European market. Statoil is its main energy company, but said wind energy was a natural fit.

"Dudgeon offshore wind farm is part of Statoil's strategy of gradually supplementing our oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy," Irene Rummelhoff, the executive vice president for new energy solutions at Statoil, said in a statement.

Statoil already counts several projects in its renewable energy portfolio. Through a memorandum of understanding signed with the Scottish government, the company aims to install a Lithium battery storage system within two years.

The company last year signed a letter of intent with state-owned renewable energy company Statkraft to take over as the operator of the Sheringham Shoal wind farm off the British coast, which is already in operation.

Working since 2012, Sheringham Shoal is one of the largest offshore wind farms in service in the world with its capacity to provide enough power to meet the annual demands of nearly a quarter million average households.

Statoil said the Dudgeon facility was completed on time and below the $1.9 billion budget set when the final investment decision was made in 2014.

The United Kingdom ranks second in Europe behind Germany for offshore wind energy capacity, with about 518 megawatts.