RWE Scraps Giant U.K. Offshore Windfarm

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - RWE (Essen, Germany) has pulled the plug on a massive offshore windfarm project in the U.K. blaming difficulties over building in deeper waters.

The Atlantic Array Project proposed for the Bristol Channel was originally supposed to top 1,500-megawatts (MW) using 417 turbines. However, that number was reduced by 139 turbines to 278 last summer and there was another reduction in March this year to 240 turbines. RWE has now scrapped the project altogether citing a number of technical challenges including substantially deeper waters and adverse seabed conditions.

"This is not a decision we have taken lightly, however given the technological challenges and market conditions, now is not the right time for RWE to continue to progress with this project," explained Paul Cowling, Director of Offshore Wind at RWE Innogy. "We will continue to focus on the other less technically challenging offshore projects within our extensive offshore pipeline of up to 5.2-gigawatts (GW). Offshore wind remains one of the strategic objectives for RWE and the U.K. has a major role to play within our portfolio. We are looking forward to the completion of Gwynt-Y-Mor next year. At 576 MW this will become the second largest operating offshore wind farm in the world."

RWE said it has informed the Crown Estate, which manages the U.K. seabed, and it has agreed to its request to terminate the agreement for the Bristol Channel Zone. This means RWE has surrendered the option for the Atlantic Array project, removing its seabed rights.

Speaking on behalf of The Crown Estate, Huub den Rooijen, Head of Offshore Wind said: "Now that the industry has been developing projects for a number of years, there is a much deeper understanding of the characteristics of successful projects and we will see further attrition in the time to come. Paradoxically, this is a positive development because it provides greater clarity to key stakeholders such as supply chain and consenting bodies, and brings greater focus to the investment opportunities."

Last June, RWE npower announced it was reducing the number of turbines at the project by 139, down from the original total of 417. At that time the windfarm was also relocated further away from the Welsh coast to a distance of 22.5 kilometres (km), up from 16km. For additional information, see June 12, 2012, article - RWE Shrinks Atlantic Array Windfarm.

In March, the company announced that the number of turbines for the Atlantic Array offshore windfarm would be cut from 278 to 240, lowering the generation capacity from 1,500 MW to 1,200 MW. For additional information, see March 29, 2013, article - RWE Cuts Atlantic Array Windfarm Again

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