Hornsea Offshore Windfarm Secures Grid Connection

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--One of the largest proposed offshore windfarms in the United Kingdom has secured grid connection for the first gigawatt (GW) of its planned 4-GW capacity.

The deal with National Grid plc (NYSE:NGG) (London, England) means that construction of the massive Hornsea windfarm off the Yorkshire coast will go ahead in 2014 without delay, according to the project owners. When completed, the windfarm will be capable of supplying 4% of the U.K.'s electricity, enough power for 3 million homes. Hornsea is the third-largest wind development in the U.K.'s Round 3 of windfarm development, which is expected to go online in the coming decade. For additional information, see January 11, 2010, article - Winners of U.K. Offshore Wind Jackpot Revealed.

The news comes alongside information that global wind energy capacity is predicted to hit almost 200 GW this year. Almost 40 GW of new capacity will be installed this year. The figures from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) (Brussels, Belgium) highlight how wind power capacity will double to almost 400 GW between 2010 and 2014, driven mainly by growth in China, the United States and Europe.

The Hornsea project is owned by the Smart Wind consortium (London), a 50:50 joint venture of Siemens Project Ventures (Munich, Germany) and Mainstream Renewable Power (Dublin, Ireland). The offshore windfarm will connect to Killingholme substation, a 400-kilovolt substation in the Humber region that is owned by National Grid. Construction of the first 1-GW phase will kick off in 2014. The remaining 3 GW is planned to begin construction between 2015 and 2020.

"Smart Wind, Mainstream and Siemens Project Ventures are fully committed to bringing the first Round 3 project successfully through the consents process, and into commercial operation," said Smart Wind chairman Andy Kinsella. "Achieving grid connection for 2014 is a hugely significant step towards achieving this."

On the global wind energy front, GWEC's latest five-year outlook figures suggest that U.S. growth will be down this year, but will be offset by a surge in windfarm developments in China. Europe will continue to remain a strong wind energy sector. However, the council also believes a significant surge in growth is occurring in developing countries and emerging economies.

Steve Sawyer, secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, said: "We do expect the U.S. market to be down this year, as the low level of orders we saw during the financial crisis work their way through the system. On the other hand, stronger growth in China will make up for this, and the European market is very stable. Overall, wind energy continues to be a growth market, weathering the economic crisis much better than some analysts had predicted."

Sawyer added: "As wind power is becoming more competitive, it is rapidly expanding beyond the traditional markets in North America and Europe. In fact, around half of the growth is now happening in emerging economies and developing countries. We are seeing very encouraging signs from countries in Latin America, including Brazil, Mexico and Chile, as well as northern and sub-Saharan Africa."

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 is now expanding coverage across the world.

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