Round 3 heralds major offshore wind farm expansion
The Round 3 leases will see wind farms located up to100 miles off the UK coast in waters up to 60m deep. Photo by Peter Barker.
The future of offshore wind energy development in the UK is set to take a significant step forward following the announcement this week by The Crown Estate of the successful bidders for the nine exclusive Zone Development Agreements to develop wind farms under the Round 3 licensing arrangements.
These will potentially see an extra 32GW of electricity generated by turbines located up to 100 miles offshore in water depths up to 60m. The agreements will take the proposals through the planning and consent phase.
Round 1, described as a ‘demonstration’ round,consisted of 13 wind farms, each with a maximum of 30 turbines. Round 2 saw 41 proposals narrowed down to fifteen Agreements for Leases that will eventually see up to 7.2GW of electricity generated at sites both within and beyond British territorial waters. In addition, agreements for a total capacity of 6.4MW of electricity have been awarded for ten projects in Scottish waters.
The nine Round 3 zones and respective developers are; 1) Moray Firth zone: 1.3GW, Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd (75% owned by EDP Renovaveis and 25% by SeaEnergy Renewables), 2) Firth of Forth zone: 3.5GW, SeaGreen Wind Energy Ltd (equally owned by SSE Renewables and Fluor); 3) Dogger Bank zone: 9GW, the Forewind Consortium (equally owned by SSE Renewables, RWE Npower Renewables, Statoil and Statkraft); 4) Hornsea zone: 4GW, Siemens Project Ventures and Mainstream Renewable Power (a consortium equally owned by both companies and also involving Hochtief Construction); 5) Norfolk Bank zone: 7.2GW, East Anglia Offshore Wind Ltd (equally owned by Scottish Power Renewables and Vattenfall Vindkraft); 6) Hastings zone: 0.6GW, Eon Climate and Renewables UK; 7) West of Isle of Wight zone: 0.9GW, Eneco New Energy; 8) Bristol Channel zone: 1.5GW, RWE Npower Renewables (the UK subsidiary of RWE Innogy); And finally, 9) Irish Sea zone: 4.2GW, Centrica Renewable Energy and involving RES Group.
The total installed capacity expected from Round 3 by 2020 will supply a quarter of the UK’s electricity needs and it is hoped that engineering industries in the UK will take advantage of the significant opportunities that will be forthcoming. As Tom Foulkes, director general of the Institutution of Civil Engineers said; ‘This could be a significant export opportunity for the UK. We have the engineering expertise to deliver world class wind farms but we must ensure progress isn’t hindered by planning delays, a lack of skilled engineers and supply chain constraints. Ongoing investment in supporting infrastructure and the national grid itself will be crucial to ensure these projects reach their full potential. If successful, these projects could go a long way to ensure ongoing security of supply.’
By Peter Barker
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