A VISITOR centre is offering people the chance to name an offshore wind turbine in a new competition.

Organisers at Rampion Visitor Centre are giving members of the public the chance to name FO4, the first operational turbine.

Eager entrants have already submitted suggestions, including Spinny McSpinFace, Turbine McTurbineFace and Windy Miller.

The wind farm, which features 116 turbines, is located is 13 kilometres off the Sussex coast between Brighton and Worthing.

The £1.3 billion project, which became operational in November 2018, generates enough electricity to power 350,000 homes.

Katie Scanlan, visitor centre manager, said: “We’re looking for creative ideas for a name – it could be named after a famous person in Sussex, or someone you know who has done something fantastic to protect the environment, or anything you think might be relevant.”

The names selected by the visitor centre team will go to a public vote.

The winning name will be displayed on the turbine and the person who suggested it will receive a goodie bag.

The open poll is reminiscent of the 2016 proposal by a British government agency, which let the internet suggest a name for a multi-million pound polar research ship.

What probably seemed like a good idea at the time, the agency was forced to name the boat Boaty McBoatface.

The Rampion Offshore Wind Farm was itself named by schoolgirls at Davison High School who won a competition in 2010 calling it after Rampion, the county flower of Sussex.

Throughout lockdown, the visitor team have offered virtual education support to schools, including presenting on wind energy at last week’s national Youth Climate Summit.

The competition comes after an announcement in September, whereby plans for another 116 new turbines in an extension of the Rampion wind farm off the Sussex coast were revealed.

The proposed site is adjacent to the existing Rampion offshore wind farm about eight miles out to sea.

In August 2019 the Crown Estate invited existing wind farms to express interest in expanding.

A new joint venture company signed an agreement with the Crown Estate, which manages the seabed, to develop the project on the site.

RWE Renewables said the project was at a “very early stage” and could be operation by the end of the decade.

Names should be submitted to the Rampion Visitor Centre on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter pages @rampionvc or email Visitorcentre@rampionoffshore.com