Vattenfall cancels Thanet windfarm extension
The 100 turbine 300MW Thanet Wind Farm off North Foreland was opened in September and currently holds the title of the world’s largest operational offshore wind farm. Photo by Peter Barker
Swedish energy company Vattenfall has decided not to proceed further with its proposed plans to extend the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm but will carry on with plans to extend the nearby Kentish Flats windfarm.
Earlier this year The Crown Estate announced that three operators had been offered the opportunity to increase capacity at five of their Round 1 and 2 windfarms (see MJ May 2010). The plans are intended to help provide a stable flow of construction projects for the supply chain driven by what they described at the time as ‘the developer’s appetite’ to fill the gap between the Round 1 and 2 projects presently at various stages of construction and the larger scale Round 3 programme currently in the pipeline.
Vattenfall own and operate two windfarms in the Thames Estuary, both now fully commissioned. The latest and largest of the two, the 100 turbine 300MW Thanet Wind Farm off North Foreland was opened in September and currently holds the title of the world’s largest operational offshore windfarm. As part of the proposals Vattenfall was offered the opportunity to extend Thanet by an extra 147MW, around a 50% increase in size. A similar percentage increase (extra 51MW) was also proposed for The Kentish Flats Wind Farm off Whitstable.
It is now reported that following research and analysis into the Thanet extension proposal the company has now determined that the shore electricity grid upgrades that would be needed to guarantee the viability of the project would not be completed in sufficient time, resulting in missing the timescale of the current Crown Estate leasing round. The shore connection site for the operational Thanet farm is at the now disused Richborough power station south of Ramsgate. The company is also reported as saying that they have not completely rules out the possibility of considering an extension for Thanet at a later date.
There is more positive news however at the Kentish Flats windfarm where Vattenfall has stated its intention to proceed with the offer to extend the site. Between 10 and 17 additional turbines could be added to the current 30 that have been producing energy since June 2005. The shore connection is at nearby Herne Bay.
By Peter Barker
Images for this article - click to enlarge
Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2012. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.
