Extracts from the May-June 2003 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

More Offshore Wind

Three more offshore wind farms have been given approval, bringing the total to six, and the DTI has announced the results of the second round of the capital grant allocations for offshore wind, involving a total of £42m, £40m of it from the extra £60m allocated in the White Paper. In all, the projects currently with planning consent agreed will have 1.5GW of capacity, sufficient to generate1.5% of UK electricity requirements.

The first of the new projects to get approval involves 60 turbines in the Thames Estuary at Kentish flats, to be built by GREP UK Marine Ltd, 8.5km north of Herne Bay in Kent: see www.kentishflats.co.uk. It has been awarded £10m and construction should start in 2004.

The second is in the Irish Sea off Cumbria near Barrow to be built by Warwick Energy Ltd, 7.5km south west of Walney Island. Work should begin in Spring 2004 for completion that autumn. It has also been awarded£10m

The third is the large 200MW Robin Rigg project proposed for Solway Firth in Scotland, which had met with local opposition. It has been awarded £18m.

The wind farm 8km off Rhyl on the North Wales coast, was given the go-ahead earlier this year, and will comprise up to 30 turbines, each standing 150 metres high, with the total rated power being 100MW. Work is scheduled to begin immediately for completion in 2004. It has now been awarded £4m. The application for consent was originally made by Celtic Offshore Wind Ltd, but it been taken forward by National Wind Power Offshore Limited, which already holds consents for the neighbouring 90 MW North Hoyle wind farm, 4-5 miles of the coast from Prestatyn. That received its Electricity Act consent last July- along with Powergens 80MW project at Scroby Sands off Norfolk.

Energy Minister Brian Wilson said ‘Britain is the windiest country in Europe and these locations provide the shallow waters currently needed for offshore wind technology. As the most commercially viable renewable power source, it is vital that we harness the energy of the wind both on and offshore now.’

* Currently 4GW of offshore wind capacity in being planned, which could supply 4% of the UK’s electricity. But no decisions have emerged yet on the projects proposed for Porthcawl in S.Wales and in Northern Ireland, both of which have been subject to objections (see Renew 142).