Wind power in the United Kingdom

Offshore wind farms

The UK has been estimated to have over a third of Europe's total offshore wind resource, which is equivalent to three times the electricity needs of the nation at current rates of electricity consumption.

The first developments in UK offshore wind power came about through the now discontinued Non Fossil Fuels Obligation (NFFO), leading to two wind farms, Blythe Offshore and Gunfleet sands The NFFO was introduced as part of the Electricity Act 1989 and obliged UK electricity supply companies to secure specified amounts of electricity from non-fossil sources [http://test.netgates.co.uk/nre/nffo.html, which provided the initial spur for the commercial development of renewable energy in the UK.

Round 1

In 1998 the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) began discussions with the government to draw up formal procedures for negotiating with the Crown Estate, the owner of almost all the UK coastline out to distance of 12 nautical miles. The result was a set of guidlines published in 1999, and a huge increase in the number of applications submitted. Eighteen of the applications were granted permission to proceed in April 2001, in what has become known as round one of UK offshore wind development. The first of the round one projects completed, and the first large scale offshore wind farm in the UK, North Hoyle, was commissioned in December 2003. The second, Scroby Sands, was completed one year later in December 2004, followed by the world's largest offshore wind farm, the 90-MW Kentish Flats in 2005. The fourth, Barrow Offshore, with 90 turbines, finished construction in July 2006. Seven of the remaining projects have received consent from the planning authorities, while the remaining four are still awaiting consent, including the Shell Flat site off the coast of Lancashire.

Round 2

Lessons learnt from round one, particularly the difficulty in getting planning consent for offshore wind farms, together with the increasing pressure to reduce CO₂ emissions, prompted the department of trade and industry (DTI) to develop a strategic framework for the offshore wind industry. The result, known as Round 2, was announced in December 2003 with 15 projects with a combined capacity of 7.2GW. By far the largest of these are the 1GW London Array and the 1.2 GW Triton Knoll ^*.

List of built and proposed offshore wind farms

Note: The power shown in the table is the maximum power, on average a windfarm will generate one third of the maximum power.

UK Offshore Windfarms ^*
Farm	Completed	Power (MW)	No. Turbines	Notes
Blythe Offshore	December 2000	4	2	Evaluation project
Gunfleet Sands			30	Construction to start in 2007^*
North Hoyle	December 2003	60
Scroby Sands	December 2004	60
Kentish Flats	December 2005	90
Shell Flat		180	90	Resubmitted for planning consent
Barrow	May 2006	(90)	(30^*)90
Lynn/Inner Dowsing			60	Offshore construction to start 2007 ^*
Cromer			30	delayed due to opposition^*
Scarweather Sands			30	opposition to planning permission
Rhyll Flats			30
Burbo Bank			30	Construction started May 2006^*
Solway Firth			60
Teesside			30	waiting for consent?^*
Tunes Plateau			30	Conducting environmental impact assessment^*
Ormonde			30
Docking Shoal		500
Race Bank		500
Triton Knoll		1,200
Greater Gabbard		500
London Array		1,000
Gyntt y Mor		750
West Duddon		500

Onshore wind farms

The first windfarms in the UK were built onshore, and they currently generate more power than the offshore farms. A March 2006 report by the British Wind Energy Association forecast that onshore windfarms should be able to supply nearly 5% of the national electricity requirements by 2010 (6,000 MW) In the year to 31st March 2005 On shore wind farms, according to Ofgem produced 1,734Gws (an average of 198Mwhrs) but this is expected to rise to 2,500Gws in the following year (an average of 285 Mwhrs) so there is considerable scope for further growth (16,600 MW had been installed in Germany by 2004, for example [http://ec.europa.eu/energy/res/sectors/wind_energy_en.htm).

External Links

COWRIE Collaborative offshore wind research into the environment