British utility Scottish Southern Energy Plc(SSE) will build the world's largest offshore wind farm and has awarded $3 billion in contracts to US engineer Fluor Coip and Germany's Siemens AG. Despite industry doubts about the viability of offshore wind .SSE said it would build the farm off Britain's east coast. Work would begin on the 504 mw Greater Gabbard project shortly and power generation would startin2011. The utility added it had bought Texas-based Fluor's 50%stake in the projectfor40 million pounds. Earlier, Royal Dutch Shell said it wanted to sell its stake in a planned 1,000 mw British offshore wind farm project called London Array, raising doubts as to whether that project would be built. The British government, which criticized Shell's decision to exit London Array, welcomed SSE's plan.