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Aurora
Joined: 24 Jan 2007
Posts: 5328
Location: West of England
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 Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:11 am Post subject: Giant offshore wind farms to supply half of UK power |
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3022277.ece
| Quote: | Times Online - 09/12/07
Britain is to launch a huge expansion of offshore wind-power with plans for thousands of turbines in the North Sea, Irish Sea and around the coast of Scotland.
John Hutton, the energy secretary, will this week announce plans to build enough turbines to generate nearly half Britain?s current electricity consumption. He will open the whole of Britain?s continental shelf to development, apart from areas vital for shipping and fishing.
The scheme could see turbines so large that they would reach 850ft into the sky, nearly 100ft taller than Canary Wharf. Each would be capable of powering up to 8,000 homes.
Britain?s current range of coal, gas, nuclear and other power stations are capable of generating 75 gigawatts (GW) of electricity, but less than 0.5GW comes from wind. Planning consents have been granted for a further 3GW and the government had already made clear it wanted this raised to 8GW.
Hutton will announce at an energy conference in Berlin tomorrow that he wants to see this target raised to 33GW-worth of wind turbines installed in the seas around Britain by 2020. If energy consumption remains stable this would mean wind power could supply the electricity needs of every home in Britain.
There would still be a need to keep fossil-fuelled power stations in reserve because windless days could leave Britain with power shortages.
However, studies at Hutton?s department for business, enterprise and regulatory reform have shown that the extra cost of maintaining standby power stations would add little to bills.
Hutton said: ?The UK is now the number one location for investment in offshore wind in the world and next year we will overtake Denmark as the country with the most offshore wind capacity.
?This could be a major contribution towards meeting the EU?s target of 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020.?
Hutton made clear the scale of the plans. The ?first round? of offshore wind farms, in 2001, comprised a few small demonstration projects. The ?second round? in 2003 limited development to the Thames estuary, the Greater Wash and the northwest.
Under the new proposals, the whole of Britain?s continental shelf would be opened to development, potentially including the English Channel and much of the coast of northern Scotland, where winds are most reliable.
It could mean that wind farms would become visible from almost every point of Britain?s coast. Some developers have made clear that they would like to see a forest of turbines stretching up the North Sea, whose shallow waters make it relatively cheap and easy to develop.
Hutton?s plan would be subject to an environmental assessment but it is certain to amplify the conflicts over wind farms.
So far there have been few objections to Britain?s six offshore wind farms because they are largely out of sight.
However, the scale of the proposed offshore developments is certain to bring controversy as they will often be visible from land.
Maria McCaffery, chief executive of the British Wind Energy Association, welcomed the move. ?This expansion will mean that by 2015 the UK?s offshore market will be twice the size of any other national offshore wind market.? |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7134977.stm
| Quote: | BBC News - 09/12/07
All UK homes could be powered by off-shore windfarms by 2020, according to an exclusive in one of the Sunday papers.
The Independent on Sunday says Britain is about to undergo a wind-power revolution after what it calls an 'astonishing' u-turn by the government.
It says the Business Secretary, John Hutton, will announce on Monday, 10 December, the biggest-ever renewable energy initiative: off-shore wind farms, reports the paper, could provide all UK homes with electricity within 13 years.
Only weeks ago, according to the paper, Mr Hutton was resisting a major expansion of renewable resources, arguing that it would interfere with plans to build new nuclear power stations. |
http://environment.independent.co.uk/green_living/article3236132.ece
| Quote: | The Independent - 09/12/07
Britain is to embark on a wind power revolution that will produce enough electricity to power every home in the country, ministers will reveal tomorrow.
The Independent on Sunday has learnt that, in an astonishing U-turn, the Secretary of State for Business, John Hutton, will announce that he is opening up the seas around Britain to wind farms in the biggest ever renewable energy initiative. Only weeks ago he was resisting a major expansion of renewable sources, on the grounds that it would interfere with plans to build new nuclear power stations.
The revelation rounds off an unprecedented week in the battle against global warming in Britain and the United States. On Wednesday and Thursday measures to boost US use of renewable energy for electricity and motor fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions were approved in Congress. The move comes as 190 nations meet in Bali, Indonesia, to negotiate what is seen as the world's "last chance" of avoiding the worst effects of climate change.
Yesterday hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in 86 countries across the globe to demand urgent action from the Bali meeting. Several thousand campaigners marched in torrential rain through London to rally at the US embassy. Some posters carried a picture of President George Bush and the words "Wanted for crimes against the planet".
Mr Hutton's announcement, which will be made at a conference in Berlin tomorrow, will identify sites in British waters for enough wind farms to produce 25 gigawatts (GW) of electricity by 2020, in addition to the 8GW already planned ? enough to meet the needs of all the country's homes.
It means that within only eight years, Britain's offshore wind industry will be twice the size of that of any other nation in the world.
The move will put the country well on the way to achieving a tough EU target of providing 20 per cent of the country's energy from renewable sources by 2020. But just six weeks ago, Mr Hutton's department, far from attempting to meet the target was trying to kill it.
In a confidential memorandum, Gordon Brown was advised that the target was expensive and faced "severe practical difficulties". It went on to warn how it would reduce "the incentives to invest in other technologies like nuclear power".
But the Prime Minister overruled Mr Hutton and insisted in his first green speech as PM last month that the target would be maintained and met. Now the Business Secretary will also announce tomorrow that he is to set up a panel under his chairmanship to work out how to hit it.
"By 2020 enough electricity could be generated off our shores to power the equivalent of all of the UK's homes," Mr Hutton is expected to say in a speech to the European energy industry in Berlin."The challenge for Government and for industry is to turn this potential ? for our energy and economy ? into a cost-effective reality. This will be a major challenge."
The announcement is the first step in implementing the offshore wind power revolution, which is likely to run into far less environmental opposition than proposals to build wind farms on land. Once sites have been identified, companies will then draw their plans and submit them for approval to Mr Hutton's department and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
So far two things have held them back: site identification and an assurance that the resulting installations will be connected to the national grid. This move removes the former.
Yesterday Maria McCaffery, chief executive of the British Wind Energy Association, hailed the move as a "decisive step". She added: "We welcome the Government's effort to place wind energy on a sound footing and promote Britain into a leader in this sector." |
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mikepepler
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:25 am Post subject: |
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At last! I hope they get on and do it fast!
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biffvernon
Joined: 24 Nov 2005
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Location: Lincolnshire
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:35 am Post subject: |
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It's great news.
However.
The German and Danish factories have a long order book, Siemens is booked into 2009 and Repower and Multibrid will not start production of their 5MW turbines till 2009.
Our government saying "Here's some sea you can have" is not going to achieve much in itself. It's such a shame we had all that faffing about trying to prop up the motor industry in the West Midlands when we should have just cleared the decks and got on with useful engineering.
Off shore wind farms are much more expensive than on shore - 50% more in shallow water close to shore, 100% more for those planned in the German Bight in deeper water 50km offshore.
Hutton's target of 33GW should be set in the context of today's reality. 850MW is in operation in off-shore Europe and another 1507MW has been ordered. By the end of 2009 there should be 2700MW installed. Industry simply can't supply the turbines any faster. If 33MW is going to be built we first need to increase production by about an order of magnitude!
Somebody tell me I've got this wrong, please.
The numbers come from an article by Detlef Koenemann in the current issue of Sun & Wind Energy 4/2007, the German industry magazine. |
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adam2
Joined: 02 Jul 2007
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Location: London UK
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Totally_Baffled
Joined: 24 Nov 2005
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Location: Hampshire
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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| mikepepler wrote: | | At last! I hope they get on and do it fast! |
There is roughly 4380 days until 2020 (ignoring the remaining days of 2007).
So doesnt this mean more than 1 a day until 2020!?
Better get cracking! 
| Quote: | | up to 7,000 - to power all UK homes by the year 2020. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7135299.stm
Why does such detail never get asked in these interviews?
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mikepepler
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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Perhaps they will fund a turbine factory to be built in the UK asap, with the output exclusively for UK use. But they probably need to do the same for the ships and drilling rigs used to install them as well. Well, I can dream at least....
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clv101
Joined: 24 Nov 2005
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Location: Bristol
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Totally_Baffled wrote: | | So doesnt this mean more than 1 a day until 2020!? |
Maybe 12 will be commissioned on 13th June 2016?
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Totally_Baffled
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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Surely if the free market was working properly , wind turbine manafacturers shares would be sky rocketing now as investors clambered to get aboard this huge growth opportunity?
Anyone got any figures on wind turbine production over the last decade or so?
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clv101
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Totally_Baffled
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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So if I am reading this graph correctly, Europe added 300MW of wind capacity in 2003.
The UK is aiming at 33GW by 2020, which is 33000MW?
So we need the equivelant of 110 years at the 2003 rate for the whole of Europe? But by 2020?
Tough ask!
We need the power of exponential growth on this one!
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biffvernon
Joined: 24 Nov 2005
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Location: Lincolnshire
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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It's going to be interesting to see how John Hutton addresses the production growth that his target requires. There should be a few job opportunities for engineers and project managers coming up.
(Thanks Vortex  )
Last edited by biffvernon on Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Vortex
Joined: 16 May 2006
Posts: 5842
Location: Silent running.
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:58 pm Post subject: |
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( "few" -> "a few" ????)
If this is a REAL push - even it never gets near the targets - then there will be MAJOR investment & job opportunities.
Don't hang about - get your thinking heads on and seize this opportunity with both hands!
We here at PowerSwitch talk a lot - this is possibly a key chance to actually DO something and maybe profit from it too.
I registered the website names for my new business to exploit this opportunity this evening .... Step One on a long road ... but at least a start .. |
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MisterE
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 737
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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Just wondering if someone could answer this. I was chatting about PO to lads who work on wind farms and a few others that work on rigs and help install these. They said what pisses them off, is that everytime they pass these turbines half or more than half are not turning and are switched off. Why would that be. These lads are out there all the time, so what is going on. Is becasue they generate too much for our cable etc. Again I dont know enough about the subject, but it seemed odd to me and you could tell from the lads this was not a one off, but more a common observation.
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biffvernon
Joined: 24 Nov 2005
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:17 pm Post subject: |
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That seems an odd anecdote. The Ecotricity wind farm a few miles from me seems to be turning almost every time we go past - so much so that the couple of times the blades have been stationary we've remarked on the strange sight.
Load factors nationally have been published somewhere. I think it is getting on for 30%. Coal and (ha ha) nuclear don't have a terrifically larger overall load factor. |
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Vortex
Joined: 16 May 2006
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Location: Silent running.
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| Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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| If this 'push' takes place, wind power will become (more) 'corporate' rather quickly. |
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