Recently, DONG Energy in Denmark played host to six students from a school in Maidstone as part of a competition held by our London Array offshore wind farm project.

The competition was to design a workable wind turbine and it was a group of six boys from Oakwood Park Grammar School won the first prize of the Danish trip.

The first stop was DONG Energy's Avedøre power station and test turbines followed by the Vestas Nacelle factory.

Elias Dencker, the O&M Project Manager at the London Array led the trip:

"We were so pleased to see the interest from schools who wanted to enter the wind turbine master class competition, letting their pupils build micro turbines capable of generating electricity, a great way to teach them a bit about the sorts of jobs a wind farm can offer along the way.”

The students were able to see the logistical aspects of a modern assembly plant, as well as the conveyor belt principles used, even for large pieces of engineering such as a nacelle.

Chris Longman one of the Oakwood Park Grammar School students on the trip said:

"Travelling to Denmark, we were submerged in a rich array of technology and culture. After seeing the capabilities of the renewable energy power station at Averdore we realised that DONG was well on the way to creating a sustainable future.”

The competition was organised by Kent County Council with the help of DONG Energy and other partners to promote the London Array project to schools in the area and the potential of engineering jobs.

Over 8 boroughs in Kent entered teams for the competition to design, build and test a small wind turbine that was able to generate electricity. They had help from industry experts and two days to complete the project with a theoretical budget of £6 million.

Since February 2003 DONG Energy has been involved in the development of the world’s largest wind farm, London Array, by Britain’s east coast.