Extensions for UK wind farms announced

The extensions will be at five of their Round 1 and 2 wind farms currently under development and two separate projects presently at the planning stage.

A number of the Round 1 and 2 projects are either in production or at various stages of construction and with the attention of the industry about to turn to plans for the Round 3 schemes, one of the aims of The Crown Estate is to help provide a stable flow of construction projects for the supply chain in the interim and maintain the momentum driven by what they describe as ‘the developers’ appetite’.

The proposed extensions will see an additional 1.7GW of capacity at the five sites either operational or under construction and a further 340MW of capacity at two projects at the planning stage.

The Greater Gabbard Wind Farm operated by SSE Renewables and RWE Npower Renewables will gain an additional 504MW of capacity at what will be known as Galloper Wind Farm. Two wind farms owned by Vattenfall Wind Power will be expanded. Thanet Offshore Wind Farm will see an additional 147MW of capacity while their nearby operational Kentish Flats site will see an increase of 51MW, to be known as Thanet 2 and Kentish Flats 2 respectively. Dong Wind UK will also see two of their UK wind farms extended. The Burbo Bank wind farm will see an extra 234MW of capacity to be known as Burbo Bank Extension while their Walney wind farm will gain extra 750MW capacity and be known as Walney Extension.

It is also reported that the capacities at Centrica Renewable Energy’s Race Bank and Warwick Energy’s Dudgeon wind farms are to be increased, both of which are at the planning stage.

Final agreements are expected to be reached between The Crown Estate and the developers in the coming weeks and the usual statutory consenting process including planning applications, consultations and an Environmental Impact Assessment will be required before the final leases are granted. It is anticipated that construction will commence in 2014 with completion in 2016 prior to the commencement of the Round 3 projects.

An important benefit of these extensions will be a synergy with the various aspects of the original projects at each location and continuity of activities including construction crews, vessels, electrical systems, construction bases, ports and onshore facilities.

By Peter Barker