German energy company E.ON said Monday it's continuing its legacy as the largest European investor in wind by building a wind farm in the English Channel.

E.ON said it made a final investment decision on the Rampion wind farm in the English Channel. Backed by a $374 million commitment by the U.K. Green Investment Bank, the project is expected to generate enough energy to meet the annual demand of 300,000 average households.

The German company is the third-largest offshore wind energy operator, with 1.2 gigawatts of capacity on the regional grid. Since 2007, the company said it's invested more than $10 trillion on renewable power.

"Our Rampion project starts from a strong position," Mike Winkel, an E.ON board member, said in a statement.

Rampion will cost the company about $2.1 billion to build about 10 miles off the British coast. It will feature 116 wind turbines positioned in shallow waters and, once online, will generate 1,300 gigawatt hours of renewable power and abate around 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, annually.

The United Kingdom is a world leader in wind energy development. The British government said renewable energy resources like wind can help address climate concerns stemming from the burning of fossil fuels. Because wind may need a fossil fuel buffer, a 2014 study from the Adam Smith Institute finds "the only benefit the U.K. wind fleet brings to the United Kingdom is that of reduced dependency on fossil-fuel imports."