Released January 11, 2010 | GALWAY, IRELAND
en
Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The Crown Estate (London) has announced the winners of the United Kingdom's Round 3 offshore windfarm contracts, which are worth up to £100 billion ($1.6 billion).
Last week, Industrial Info reported that the decision on the nine proposed windfarms had been made, but the identities of winners were kept under wraps until final contracts had been signed. For additional information, see related news item from January 4, 2010 - U.K. To Award £100 Billion in Offshore Wind Contracts. Round 3 represents the world's largest offshore windfarm development and, when complete, will generate more than 25 gigawatts (GW) of electricity. The Crown Estate believes the programme could meet a quarter of the U.K.'s electricity demand by 2020.
The winners are:
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband said "Our island has one of the best wind energy resources in Europe, and today's news shows we're creating the right conditions for the energy industry to invest in harnessing it. This is one of the strongest signals yet that the U.K. is locked irreversibly into a low-carbon, energy-secure, prosperous future."
While it all looks good on paper, there are concerns that the U.K. is not building offshore windfarms fast enough to meet its renewable targets, largely because of the logistical difficulties of erecting turbines far offshore.
In a briefing held last week, independent energy body The Carbon Trust (Witney, England) said that offshore turbines will need to be installed at a rate of three per day during 2010 for the U.K. to stay on track. The current figure, however, is one per fortnight and is hugely dependent on calm seas. The group believes about 6,000 turbines need to be installed in the next 10 years for the U.K. to achieve its goals. The group believes that the engineering task ahead for Round 3 winners is formidable since the farms are to be located in much deeper waters than windfarms installed in rounds 1 and 2.
"The scale of the challenge for offshore wind is massive," said Benjamin Sykes, senior technology acceleration manager at The Carbon Trust. "The build rate necessary is similar to coal in the 1970s, and the 'dash for gas' in the 1990s. The U.K. is positioning itself to take advantage. I'm confident there is capacity to build enough turbines, but we have to do it faster, cheaper and safer."
IIR's Renewable Energy Database provides extensive coverage on the Wind Energy, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Landfill Gas-to-Energy and Utility-Scale Solar power plants throughout North America, and now expanding coverage across the world.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news.
Last week, Industrial Info reported that the decision on the nine proposed windfarms had been made, but the identities of winners were kept under wraps until final contracts had been signed. For additional information, see related news item from January 4, 2010 - U.K. To Award £100 Billion in Offshore Wind Contracts. Round 3 represents the world's largest offshore windfarm development and, when complete, will generate more than 25 gigawatts (GW) of electricity. The Crown Estate believes the programme could meet a quarter of the U.K.'s electricity demand by 2020.
The winners are:
- Moray Firth Zone - Moray Offshore Renewables Limited, which is 75% owned by EDP Renovaveis (Lisbon, Portugal) and 25% owned by SeaEnergy Renewables (Westhill, Scotland) - 1.3-GW capacity
- Firth of Forth Zone - SeaGreen Wind Energy Limited, equally owned by SSE Renewables (Dublin, Ireland) and Fluor Corporation (Irving, Texas) - 3.5-GW capacity
- Dogger Bank Zone - the Forewind Consortium, equally owned by SSE Renewables, RWE npower Renewables (Swindon, England), Statoil ASA (NYSE:STO) (Stavangar, Norway) and Statkraft AS (Oslo, Norway) - 9 GW of capacity
- Hornsea Zone - Siemens Project Ventures and Mainstream Renewable Power, a consortium equally owned by Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Project Ventures and involving Hochtief Construction - 4-GW capacity
- Norfolk Bank Zone - East Anglia Offshore Wind limited, which is equally owned by ScottishPower Renewables (Glasgow, Scotland) and Vattenfall Vindkraft (Stockholm, Sweden) - 7.2 GW of capacity
- Hastings Zone - Eon Climate and Renewables UK - 0.6 GW of capacity
- Isle of Wight Zone - Eneco New Energy (Rotterdam, Netherlands) - 0.9 GW of capacity
- Bristol Channel Zone - RWE npower Renewables - 1.5-GW capacity
- Irish Sea Zone - Centrica Renewable Energy, part of Centrica plc (OTC:CPYYY) (Windsor, England), with RES Group - 4.2-GW capacity
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband said "Our island has one of the best wind energy resources in Europe, and today's news shows we're creating the right conditions for the energy industry to invest in harnessing it. This is one of the strongest signals yet that the U.K. is locked irreversibly into a low-carbon, energy-secure, prosperous future."
While it all looks good on paper, there are concerns that the U.K. is not building offshore windfarms fast enough to meet its renewable targets, largely because of the logistical difficulties of erecting turbines far offshore.
In a briefing held last week, independent energy body The Carbon Trust (Witney, England) said that offshore turbines will need to be installed at a rate of three per day during 2010 for the U.K. to stay on track. The current figure, however, is one per fortnight and is hugely dependent on calm seas. The group believes about 6,000 turbines need to be installed in the next 10 years for the U.K. to achieve its goals. The group believes that the engineering task ahead for Round 3 winners is formidable since the farms are to be located in much deeper waters than windfarms installed in rounds 1 and 2.
"The scale of the challenge for offshore wind is massive," said Benjamin Sykes, senior technology acceleration manager at The Carbon Trust. "The build rate necessary is similar to coal in the 1970s, and the 'dash for gas' in the 1990s. The U.K. is positioning itself to take advantage. I'm confident there is capacity to build enough turbines, but we have to do it faster, cheaper and safer."
IIR's Renewable Energy Database provides extensive coverage on the Wind Energy, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Landfill Gas-to-Energy and Utility-Scale Solar power plants throughout North America, and now expanding coverage across the world.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news.
