Ireland approved a 640 million Euro (US$571 million) plan to build the world's largest offshore wind farm capable of generating 520 MW of electricity. Marine and Natural Resources Minister Frank Fahey said the wind farm, in the Irish Sea off County Wicklow on Ireland's east coast, would be three times the size of all the existing wind farms in the world put together.

The facility will be built on a sandbank by a private Irish company called Eirtricity and should supply about 10% of the country's energy needs. The station, which is about 7 km (4 miles) offshore at its nearest point, should reduce Ireland's emissions of harmful carbon dioxide gas by 13.5 million tons a year.

Eirtricity hopes to begin construction work in the spring, with the first phase of the project, generating 60 MW, going into operation in the fall.

The completed wind farm will be made up of 200 giant turbines sunk into the 27-km (17-mile)-long Arklow Sandbank.
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