Technology | 2010.01.07
£100bn for UK's biggest offshore wind programme signals new era for renewables
Crown Estate to reveal successful bidders for nine windfarm sites expected to create tens of thousands of new jobs and help the UK meet clean energy and carbon emission targets
The UK government will announce a £100bn programme today to build thousands of offshore wind turbines that will kickstart the next phase of renewable power generation in Britain.
The Crown Estate will reveal the successful bidders for at least 25GW of windfarms across nine zones in the seas around the UK.
The developments could create tens of thousands of new jobs, which will be crucial if the UK is to meet its targets for clean energy and carbon emission cuts.
The UK has the biggest wind resource in Europe - some estimates put the UK\'s share at one-third of the continent\'s total. Taking advantage of this will be critical in meeting the targets set by government for the UK to meet 15% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.
Round three will be the biggest wind programme announced by the Crown Estate so far and aims to accelerate the deployment of wind energy on a massive scale.
The nine sites in line for development include Dogger Bank, the Bristol Channel, the seas off Norfolk and the Firth of Forth. The proposed windfarms will be further away from the coast and in deeper waters than any existing offshore project, and therefore more challenging to build.
According to Greenpeace, Britain already leads the world in the deployment of offshore wind and has more projects installed, in planning or in construction than any other country. Almost 700MW of offshore turbines are already installed across nine projects, with around another 1.2GW under construction and a further 3.5GW in planning stages. By comparison, a large coal-fired power station generates about 1GW of electricity.
In advance of today\'s announcement, Greenpeace executive director, John Sauven, said: "Throughout its history Britain has shown the determination and ingenuity to tackle the great industrial challenges of each era. In the 21st century these qualities are being called on once again, to enable the transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable sources of energy. Our country is home to some of the best engineers, mechanics and construction professionals in the world. Their expertise will be crucial if we are to harness the massive potential that new technologies like offshore wind have to offer."
The winning consortia will face several challenges, including a lack of offshore connections to the national electricity grid and limited capacity in the supply and installation chain for windfarms. "The scale of round three will require a dramatic increase in manufacturing capacity for offshore wind, such as turbines, foundations, offshore electrics and installation vessels," said the British Wind Energy Association. It estimates that more than 55,000 jobs could be created in the planning, construction and maintenance of the thousands of wind turbines that will be built in the next decade.
However, Britain currently has no commercial-scale wind turbine manufacturing plants, following the closure of the Vestas plant on the Isle of Wight last year.
Another issue is that existing subsidies for offshore wind are only guaranteed until 2014, but very few of the round three projects will have begun operating by then.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/20[...]08/uk-offshore-windfarms-100bn
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