The world’s largest offshore wind farm has received development consent from the UK’s Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), EurActiv’s media partner edie.net reports.

Located 89 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast, the 300 turbine Hornsea Project Two will have a capacity of up to 1.8GW and could meet the electricity needs of approximately 1.6 million UK homes per year.

The 6 billion Pound (6.94 billion Euro) windfarm is expected to create about 2,000 construction jobs and 580 operational and maintenance jobs in the Humber region upon completion.

“The UK’s offshore wind industry has grown at an extraordinary rate over the last few years, and is a fundamental part of our plans to build a clean, affordable, secure energy system.

“Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we’re determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy, which means jobs and economic growth right across the country,”said the state secretary Greg Clark.

The green light for the windfarm – estimated to be fully operational in 2020 – comes after the project’s financer Dong Energy made a final investment decision back in February.

The Government used the announcement as an opportunity to reveal that it is making £730m (€843m) of financial support available for renewable electricity generation this Parliament, and expects 10GW of offshore wind to be installed by the end of this decade.