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UK offshore wind expansion
WIND
UK o f f s h o r e wind expansion Two more offshore wind farms have been approved by the UK Government. The approval of plans to build 60 turbines in the Thames Estuary and in the Irish Sea off Cumbria were announced in March by Energy Minister Brian Wilson. The first wind farm for the Thames Estuary will be built on the 'Kentish Flats' by GREP UK Marine Ltd 8.5km north of Herne Bay in Kent and will consist of 30 wind turbines of minimum 3MW capacity each. The windfarm could provide roughly half of all the electricity consumed by Herne Bay, Whitstable and Canterbury combined which would be around 300 Gigawatt-hours per annum. Construction is due to start in 2004. Cumbria's first wind farm will be built by "Warwick Energy Ltd 7.5kin south west of Walney Island. Work on the 108MW development is scheduled to begin in Spring 2004 for completion that autumn. This will add to the other offshore wind farms already commissioned or about to begin construction around the UK. The UK's first wind farm was built off Blyth in Northumberland. Subsequent consents have been granted for wind farms off Norfolk (Scroby Sands) and North Wales (North Hoyle and Rhyl Flats). The offshore wind industry in Britain is a shaping up to be a significant force in the country's economy, but the British Wind Energy Association says obstacles must be overcome if the sector is to achieve its full potential. The government wants to supply 10% of power from renewables by 2010, but that target "could founder if government does not resolve grid issues as a matter of urgency," says
the association's James Glennie. The ability to connect windfarms to the transmission network "has implications not just for the new offshore developments but for renewables at large." Elsewhere in Europe, 23,000 M W of wind has been connected to the grid and Britain must draw on that experience to ensure that it can supply 40% of the wind resource on the continent, of which a significant proportion is located at sea. "BWEA is keen to see this abundant natural resource fully utilised, but the legal framework to do so does not exist," he explains. "We need to ~nsure that the legislation is put in place and swiftly implemented to allow development beyond UK's territorial waters, as is already the case elsewhere." New legislation to allow developments outside the 20km territorial limit is needed to establish a legal regime and to create a streamlined consents process. Government could be acting out of turn if it permitted development on the continental shelf, which is a "potentially serious problem because third parties could then challenge the legality of such developments." The absence of an appropriate legal regime effectively eliminates development outside that limit, which represents a "serious constraint on the future development of offshore wind." The government's 'Future Offshore' consultation document had asked if separate provision were needed for other offshore technologies, but BWEA says any process should be applicable to wave and tidal developments as well. The position paper was released just before the government published its energy white paper. (www.bwea.com) ....
NEWS
Class One WindMast Built to last
Designed to European Wind Class One standard For all locations For all climates Easy to erect Ultimate corrosion protection From Europe's Nol supplier of wind monitoring solutions and data logging equipment Call us on:
:.
Tel: 44 (0) 1453 759408 Fax: 44 (0) 1453 759416 Email: [email protected]
el: Wesfern Windpower, Axiom House, Station Road, Stroud, Glos. GL5 3AP, UK R e a d e r E n q u i r y S e r v i c e No. 208. G o to w w w . r e - f o c u s . n e t to m a k e y o u r e n q u i r y .
March/April 2003
RE
www.re-focus.net
UK o f f s h o r e wind expansion Two more offshore wind farms have been approved by the UK Government. The approval of plans to build 60 turbines in the Thames Estuary and in the Irish Sea off Cumbria were announced in March by Energy Minister Brian Wilson. The first wind farm for the Thames Estuary will be built on the 'Kentish Flats' by GREP UK Marine Ltd 8.5km north of Herne Bay in Kent and will consist of 30 wind turbines of minimum 3MW capacity each. The windfarm could provide roughly half of all the electricity consumed by Herne Bay, Whitstable and Canterbury combined which would be around 300 Gigawatt-hours per annum. Construction is due to start in 2004. Cumbria's first wind farm will be built by "Warwick Energy Ltd 7.5kin south west of Walney Island. Work on the 108MW development is scheduled to begin in Spring 2004 for completion that autumn. This will add to the other offshore wind farms already commissioned or about to begin construction around the UK. The UK's first wind farm was built off Blyth in Northumberland. Subsequent consents have been granted for wind farms off Norfolk (Scroby Sands) and North Wales (North Hoyle and Rhyl Flats). The offshore wind industry in Britain is a shaping up to be a significant force in the country's economy, but the British Wind Energy Association says obstacles must be overcome if the sector is to achieve its full potential. The government wants to supply 10% of power from renewables by 2010, but that target "could founder if government does not resolve grid issues as a matter of urgency," says
the association's James Glennie. The ability to connect windfarms to the transmission network "has implications not just for the new offshore developments but for renewables at large." Elsewhere in Europe, 23,000 M W of wind has been connected to the grid and Britain must draw on that experience to ensure that it can supply 40% of the wind resource on the continent, of which a significant proportion is located at sea. "BWEA is keen to see this abundant natural resource fully utilised, but the legal framework to do so does not exist," he explains. "We need to ~nsure that the legislation is put in place and swiftly implemented to allow development beyond UK's territorial waters, as is already the case elsewhere." New legislation to allow developments outside the 20km territorial limit is needed to establish a legal regime and to create a streamlined consents process. Government could be acting out of turn if it permitted development on the continental shelf, which is a "potentially serious problem because third parties could then challenge the legality of such developments." The absence of an appropriate legal regime effectively eliminates development outside that limit, which represents a "serious constraint on the future development of offshore wind." The government's 'Future Offshore' consultation document had asked if separate provision were needed for other offshore technologies, but BWEA says any process should be applicable to wave and tidal developments as well. The position paper was released just before the government published its energy white paper. (www.bwea.com) ....
NEWS
Class One WindMast Built to last
Designed to European Wind Class One standard For all locations For all climates Easy to erect Ultimate corrosion protection From Europe's Nol supplier of wind monitoring solutions and data logging equipment Call us on:
:.
Tel: 44 (0) 1453 759408 Fax: 44 (0) 1453 759416 Email: [email protected]
el: Wesfern Windpower, Axiom House, Station Road, Stroud, Glos. GL5 3AP, UK R e a d e r E n q u i r y S e r v i c e No. 208. G o to w w w . r e - f o c u s . n e t to m a k e y o u r e n q u i r y .
March/April 2003
RE
www.re-focus.net