EDF Snaps Up Large Scottish Windfarm

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The renewable arm of French energy major Electricite de France S.A. (EPA:EDF) (Paris) purchased the proposed 198-megawatt (MW) Dorenell onshore windfarm in Scotland, one of the largest onshore projects in the U.K.

Subsidiary EDF Energy Renewables (Tyne and Wear, England) will take over the project from original developer Infinergy Limited (Inverness, Scotland), which will stay involved with the project. The terms of the deal were not revealed, but Industrial Info estimates that the project will cost about $319 million to construct. The windfarm will be constructed on a site near Dufftown in Moray. It was granted planning permission by the Scottish government at the end of 2011. For additional information, see January 5, 2012, article - Scotland Approves Two Windfarm Projects.

The original capacity of the project was for up to 177 megawatts (MW), but EDF Energy said that improvements in turbine technology mean that it could produce just less than 200 MW. The company is in the process of applying to upgrade the project. The project also benefits from government funding for the electricity produced, which was secured before new legislation is expected to pull funding for future onshore windfarms. Under the Contacts-for-Difference subsidy scheme, Dorenell will get £82.50 per megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity produced.

However, the U.K.'s Conservative government has followed through on election promises to drastically reduce funding for onshore windfarms from next year. Under new legislation, the government will end all financial support for new onshore windfarms by April 2016, claiming that they lacked public support and were not reliable enough to underpin a stable energy system. For additional information, see July 6, 2015, article - U.K. Confirms End for Onshore Wind Subsidies.

"Today's announcement, just weeks before the international conference on climate change in Paris, confirms EDF Energy's commitment to lead in U.K. investment in low carbon electricity," EDF Energy Chief Executive Vincent de Rivaz said. "That means investment in wind and nuclear electricity generation with an increasing focus on the development of Scottish renewables. In taking on the development of the largest planned onshore wind project in Scotland, we intend to boost its output using our world-leading research and development expertise."

Infinergy's Managing Director Esbjorn Wilmar added: "After almost 10 years developing this site and securing planning consent for the existing 177-MW project, our focus now is on bringing new technology through the planning process to make Dorenell the best windfarm it can be, [by] maximising output at the site, which will make an extremely important contribution to the renewable energy targets set by the Scottish Government as part of policy to ensure greater diversity and security of electricity supplies."

EDF Energy Renewables has about 70 -MW of wind projects under construction and operational in the U.K.

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