Fred Olsen Renewables Drops Plans for 415-Megawatt Scottish Windfarm

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Fred Olsen Renewables (FOR) (Oslo, Norway) has dropped plans to build a 415-megawatt (MW) offshore windfarm in Scotland.

The company has said that, following a strategic review of its operations, it will concentrate on onshore windfarms, for which it has a long track record. As a result, FOR has pulled out of the 415-MW Forth Array project, one of the projects awarded by the Crown Estate's Scottish Territorial Round. The windfarm was to have up to 90 turbines, which would have transmitted power to a new substation via undersea cabling. Construction was scheduled to kick off in 2013.

The decision is a blow to Scotland's ambitions to become one the world's leading locations for offshore wind power. In March, the Scottish government gave the green light to 10 offshore windfarm projects with a combined capacity of 6.4 gigawatts. For related news, see March 24, 2010, article - Scotland Approves 6.4 Gigawatts of Offshore Wind Projects.

"Fred Olsen Renewables has undertaken a thorough and complete review of all of our potential windfarm developments," said Nick Emery, the managing director of FOR's U.K. operations. "As an independent power producer, we have concluded that the most efficient use of our development resource is in our onshore portfolios, where historically we have had considerable success. Crystal Rig Windfarms I and II, for example, provide almost 10% of Scotland's operational wind capacity.

"FOR sees a clear future for offshore wind and believes it will make an important contribution to the recently announced Scottish Governments' renewable targets as part of the U.K. commitment to 2020. Our decision to step back from the Forth Array project is a consequence of our intention to concentrate our investment in those projects we feel we can best deliver in the short to medium term. Plans will now include additional investment in our Scottish onshore development portfolio."

Although the Forth Array project is being abandoned, FOR reaffirmed its commitment to the offshore, 220-turbine Codling Wind Park in Irish Waters, which received the green light from the Irish Government in 2005.

This is the second large offshore wind project to be axed off Scotland's east coast. In May, the U.K. arm of German energy giant RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany) pulled out of the 905-MW Inch Cape offshore wind project off the coast of Scotland. RWE npower renewables (Swindon, England) was partnered with Scotland's SeaEnergy Renewables, an 80% subsidiary of offshore windfarm developer SeaEnergy plc (Aberdeenshire, Scotland), but ditched the project due to other wind energy commitments. For related news, see May 26, 2010, article - RWE Drops 905-Megawatt Scottish Offshore Wind Project.

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