Thames Array Project Heralds Wave of Mega UK and European Wind Farms and Turbines

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The scale of wind energy projects in the UK and Europe, under construction or in the planning, feasibility, and permitting stages, is growing dramatically, as the battles continue against the advance of serried rows of turbine towers on the march across eco-sensitive terrain and beloved landscapes. New concepts and jargon are also on the march. 'DOWNVInD' is not the least preferred position adjacent to a Danish pig farm, but is the name of the $36.3 million project 'Distant Offshore Windfarms with No Visual Impact in Deepwater.' Very useful to drop in quickly, if ever there is a lull in conversations on subjects renewable.

The UK wind groups have been getting excited about the country's joining the top eight wind power host countries in the world, with a total installed generating capacity having just passed the 1,000 MW mark. The opening of the 58.5 MW Cefn Croes wind farm in Ceredigion, Wales, brings the national total to 1,037.7 MW generated by 1,273 turbines.

The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) CEO, Marcus Rand, said that another 6,000 MW of new wind projects will be commissioned by 2010. These projects will be split 50/50 between onshore and offshore developments.

In 2005, eighteen new wind projects in the UK will see installations totaling over 600 MW completed or in an advanced stage of construction, which will mean that wind power is contributing over 1% of the national electricity supply. By 2010, the $9 billion investment into the wind industry should see the sector proving 75% of the government's renewables target for that year.

A project to construct the world's largest windfarm, The London Array, twenty kilometers offshore in the outer Thames estuary, has won the support of Greenpeace, which has gone on record to say that by harnessing the UK's massive wind resource, the project will contribute to the UK's efforts to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

A consortium made up of CORE (Farm Energy and Energi 2, Denmark), E.ON UK Renewables (NYSE:EON)(Duesseldorf, Germany), and Shell (NYSE:SC) (London, UK) have submitted consents and planning applications for the massive project. The London Array would generate a peak 1,000 MW of power, which, in UK terms, would be enough to power 750,000 homes. It would connect to the national grid in Kent and save up to 1.9 million tons of CO2 annually.

The $2.7 billion wind farm would utilize 270 turbines and contribute up to 10% of the government's 2010 renewables target. If national and local consents are granted in 2006 and construction plans are put into motion, the first four phases of the project would be commissioned in 2008 and the remaining three by 2011.

400 kilometers north of the Thames estuary at the Beatrice oilfield, 25 kilometers off the east coast of Scotland in The Moray Firth, Talisman Energy UK (NYSE:TLM )(Calgary, Alberta) and Scottish Southern Energy (Perth, Scotland) have contracted REpower Systems (OTC:RPW )(Hamburg, Germany) to design, construct, and install two of the 5M type wind turbines. REpower designed the 5M, the largest in the world, for use in deepwater wind farm projects. The fist prototype has been running onshore at Brunsbuettel in Schleswig-Holstein, after having been inaugurated in February 2005, and had produced 4.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity by May. For related news item see - October 15, 2003 - Size Counts for Wind Power's Potential as a Major Grid Contributor

This is the demonstrator project in the EU-backed DOWNVInD renewable energy research and technology development program. Talisman and SSE are coordinating the project, which also has inputs from other European companies and research organizations. The turbines and tower will be installed later this year in a water depth of about forty meters. The demonstrator period will cover five years, during or after which Talisman and SSE may move on a plan for a 1,000 MW wind Farm at Beatrice, which could provide up to 20% of Scotland's power needs.

Keeping up with the mega project pace of European projects, Vattenfall is planning to build the largest $1 billion wind farm in northern Europe. It will be positioned in the Swedish zone of the Kriegers Flak, in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Germany. Initial designs specify between 100 to 150 turbines with an output of between 500 and 640 MW, with an annual generating output of two TWh annually. Recently Vattenfall purchased Sweden Offshore from the German owners and Ostersjons Vindkrafts from Fred Olsen. These acquisitions enabled Vattenfall to take on the Baltic project. The concession for the construction of the wind farm is expected in 2006, and construction is scheduled to start in 2009-2010.

Meanwhile, the 702 MW, 234-turbine project proposed by the AMEC (London:AME ) (London, UK) backed Lewis Wind Power on the Isle of Lewis, off the west of Scotland, is running into sustained opposition from various land usage and environmental lobbies, with the word 'catastrophe' in play. Although the company has amassed an impressive array of statistics in support of the project, the path to consents and permitting in 2006 looks stormy.

In addition to a range of wildlife protests, the siting of the wind farm in a peat bog area is said to threaten the release of a mass of CO2 into the atmosphere, and because of the thinly suspended solution of peat, an unstoppable peat slide may spread across the land, as happened at a similar wind farm bog site in Ireland. This is a standoff situation that calls for Lassie to appear in the nick of time with a message of hope and understanding for all parties.

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