EDF opens gas plant and wind farm in Britain

* West Burton CCGT plant has 1.3 GW capacity

* Teesside offshore wind farm has capacity of 62 MW

LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) said it had opened its West Burton combined cycle gas turbine power station and its Teesside offshore wind farm in Britain on Wednesday.

The West Burton gas plant in Nottinghamshire has a capacity of 1.3 gigawatts, enough to power 1.5 million homes. The Teesside offshore wind farm in the northeast of the country has a capacity of 62 megawatts.

Both facilities were officially opened by British Energy Minister Michael Fallon and chairman and chief executive of the EDF Group Henri Proglio.

Several utilities in Europe have closed or mothballed gas plants in Europe over the past couple of years because their profits have taken a hit from growing renewable energy capacity.

However, capacity in Britain is expected to become tighter as almost a fifth of Britain's generating capacity - old nuclear and coal - will close this decade, the British government has said. (Reporting by Nina Chestney, editing by David Evans)