Future plans call for wind farms 50 times the size of any in the field today to be built off the UK coast. The project is expected to be worth £100 billion and power companies are jockeying for their claims to the huge effort.The project is too big for any firm to handle alone. It is expected that contracts will be handed to consortiums of major utilities. However, it is expected that Scottish Power and Vattenfall will take charge of the 5 gigawatt wind farm to be placed of the Norfolk coast. The Norfolk development will be three times bigger than the gigantic London Array wind farm that is currently being placed in the Thames Estuary. The Thames Estuary will be Europe’s largest when the 341 turbines go online in 2012.
Yet another consortium of utilities is rumoured to be in the lead for a bigger project – the 10 gigawatt Dogger Bank wind farm to be built in the North Sea. The Crown Estate is responsible for issuing licenses for offshore wind farms. Historically, the Crown Estate is property held by the royal family but today it is managed by an independent organisation headed by the Crown Estate Commissioners. The group is expected to announce its decisions on the Norfolk and North Sea wind farms by the end of December and the first turbines should be placed in the water by the end of 2013.
There are still more plots to be named as well: a 5 gigawatt project in the Irish Sea, a 2.5 gigawatt project in the Humber Estuary, a 1 gigawatt project near Hastings and a number of smaller fields in various locations. This is the third round of wind farm licenses and is by far the most ambitious. Ultimately, the goal is to revolutionise the offshore wind farm industry in the UK by reaching the ambitious carbon reduction goals established by a series of government mandates.
Today there are only a few wind farms that are generating the rated capacity. These are much smaller than the ones to be announced in December and have a generation capacity between 60 and 200 megawatts. British officials realize that wind power capacity much reach between 33 and 40 gigawatts if the UK is going to have one-third of its total capacity coming from renewable sources by the year 2020. Experts estimate that £100 billion will have to be spent developing offshore wind power to meet these ambitious goals.
The UK is currently Europe’s third largest producer of wind power with a total capacity of 4 gigawatts. Germany leads the way with a total capacity of 25 gigawatts, followed by Spain with about 17 gigawatts. The UK is the windiest country in Europe and has a lot of catching up to do.
The utility consortiums rumoured to be frontrunners on the large projects could not comment on the subject, saying only that they were “bound by confidentiality agreements” not to make any public statements. The Crown Estate did confirm that the winners would be announced by the end of 2009.
Scottish Power
PO Box 8729
Bellshill ML4 3YD
http://www.spenergynetworks.net
Vattenfall AB
SE-162 87 Stockholm
http://www.vattenfall.com
The Crown Estate
16 New Burlington Place
London W1S 2HX
http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk
There are still more plots to be named as well: a 5 gigawatt project in the Irish Sea, a 2.5 gigawatt project in the Humber Estuary, a 1 gigawatt project near Hastings and a number of smaller fields in various locations. This is the third round of wind farm licenses and is by far the most ambitious. Ultimately, the goal is to revolutionise the offshore wind farm industry in the UK by reaching the ambitious carbon reduction goals established by a series of government mandates.
Today there are only a few wind farms that are generating the rated capacity. These are much smaller than the ones to be announced in December and have a generation capacity between 60 and 200 megawatts. British officials realize that wind power capacity much reach between 33 and 40 gigawatts if the UK is going to have one-third of its total capacity coming from renewable sources by the year 2020. Experts estimate that £100 billion will have to be spent developing offshore wind power to meet these ambitious goals.
The UK is currently Europe’s third largest producer of wind power with a total capacity of 4 gigawatts. Germany leads the way with a total capacity of 25 gigawatts, followed by Spain with about 17 gigawatts. The UK is the windiest country in Europe and has a lot of catching up to do.
The utility consortiums rumoured to be frontrunners on the large projects could not comment on the subject, saying only that they were “bound by confidentiality agreements” not to make any public statements. The Crown Estate did confirm that the winners would be announced by the end of 2009.
Scottish Power
PO Box 8729
Bellshill ML4 3YD
http://www.spenergynetworks.net
Vattenfall AB
SE-162 87 Stockholm
http://www.vattenfall.com
The Crown Estate
16 New Burlington Place
London W1S 2HX
http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk
