Gunfleet Sands Demo
Gunfleet Sands Demo is a 12 MW offshore wind farm in East of England, England, operated by Orsted. The UK government lists it as operational in its register of power stations (DUKES table 5.11, May 2025).
- Offshore
- East of England
- England
Key facts
- Installed capacity
- 12 MW
- Status
- Operational
- Technology
- Wind Β· Offshore
- Operator
- Orsted
- Region
- East of England
- Country
- England
- Grid connection (DUKES)
- HV
- Combined heat & power
- No
- Coordinates
- 51.7030, 1.1919
Location
Map position from the published coordinates. For small sites this can be an approximate point rather than the exact boundary. Map Β© OpenStreetMap contributors.
How Gunfleet Sands Demo compares
At a typical UK load factor for this technology (about 38% of the maximum possible output), a 12 MW station would generate roughly 40 GWh of electricity in a year, similar to the annual use of about 14,790 homes at 2,700 kWh each. This is an illustrative estimate, not the station's metered output: real generation varies with weather, availability and grid constraints.
Wind farms turn the kinetic energy of the wind into electricity with turbines. Output varies with wind speed. Offshore sites usually see stronger, steadier winds than onshore sites and so generate more per MW of capacity.
All UK wind farms Wind farms in East of England All run by OrstedNearby generating sites
- Gunfleet Sands 01 Β· 173 MW offshore wind farm3.6 km
- Gunfleet Sands 02 Β· 173 MW offshore wind farm4.6 km
- Earls Hall Farm Β· 10.3 MW onshore wind farm13.1 km
- Chisbon Β· 12.3 MW solar farm15.1 km
- Bradwell Nuclear Power Station Β· 246 MW nuclear power station20.8 km
- Middlewick Β· 20.7 MW onshore wind farm21.1 km
- Bluegates Β· 10.7 MW solar farm21.7 km
- London Array Β· 630 MW offshore wind farm22.8 km
Also operated by Orsted
Orsted operates 16 sites in the register. Largest first:
- Hornsea 02 Β· offshore wind farm1,386 MW
- Hornsea 01 Β· offshore wind farm1,218 MW
- Race Bank Β· offshore wind farm573 MW
- West of Duddon Sands Β· offshore wind farm389 MW
- Walney 01 Β· offshore wind farm368 MW
- Walney 02 Β· offshore wind farm368 MW
- Walney 03 Β· offshore wind farm330 MW
- Walney 04 Β· offshore wind farm329 MW
Planning history
From the government's Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD), matched to this site by location, capacity and name.
- Planning status
- Operational
- Site name in planning record
- Gunfleet Sands - (Demo) Extension
- Developer / operator
- Orsted (formerly Dong Energy)
- Planning authority
- DECC (S36)
- Permission granted
- 17 April 2012
- Construction started
- 15 May 2012
- Began operating
- 19 April 2013
- Capacity in planning record
- 12 MW
- Address
- off the Essex coast, Offshore
- REPD reference
- 2488
Source
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), table 5.11: power stations in the United Kingdom β operational at end of May 2025.
Capacity is installed capacity as published, not current output. Status reflects the source date, not live operation.
View the original source
Last checked by Octary: 15 July 2026
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