IANS | 10 Feb, 2012
The world's largest offshore windfarm opened off the coast of Cumbria in Britain Thursday.

With 102 turbines and a total capacity of 367.2 MW, the windfarm could provide enough power for 320,000 households.

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Edward Davey opened the windfarm near Walney in Cumbria Xinhua reported.

"Britain has a lot to be proud of in our growing offshore wind sector. Our island's tremendous natural resource, our research base and a proud history of engineering make this the number one destination for investment in offshore wind," said Davey.

"And Walney is the newest, biggest and fastest-built jewel in that crown, providing clean power for hundreds of thousands of households," he said in a statement issued by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Britain has more than 1.5 gigawatts of installed offshore wind power, and is planning to raise its capacity to 18 gigawatts by 2020.

As many as 70,000 people could be employed in the British offshore wind industry by the start of the next decade.