Planning approval for windfarms in the UK continues apace, with the go-ahead being given for both on-and offshore facilities.

A windfarm on land bordering Teesside and North Yorkshire will be built by Broadview Energy, an independent developer of onshore farms in the UK established in 2003. Five turbines between Hilton and Seamer are due to be operational in the autumn and will generate power for 7,000 homes.

Approval has also been given for a windfarm to be built off the coast of Suffolk.

The offshore site will be called Galloper Wind Farm after its proximity to the Galloper Sandbank and will be built by RWE npower Renewables.

The contract for expanding existing offshore development areas was put out to tender by The Crown Estate last summer.

The site is adjacent to where RWE npower renewables is currently building the Greater Gabbard offshore windfarm, a 500MW project that should be on-stream in 2012.

The Galloper farm is expected to have an installed capacity of around 500MW and the turbines would be set in 30 to 40 metres of water.