New offshore wind farms to boost UK capacity
Consent has been given by the UK Government for the construction of two wind farms off the Norfolk Coast with a combined capacity of over 1GW.
Important news because this now means that 6.6GW of offshore wind power is now either operational, under construction or consented in the UK.
Charles Hendry, the UK Minister of State for Energy, said: “These two projects will not only bring us considerable amounts of clean energy, but significant investment and jobs too. We have also shown that we are mindful of other consequences, such as the impact on bird populations, in deciding that it would not be appropriate to consent all three applications.”
The two wind farms at Race Bank (580MW) and Dudgeon (560MW) in the Greater Wash could generate enough electricity to power around 730,000 homes. Consent for construction has been given to Centrica and Warwick Energy respectively. The projects represent around £3bn of investment collectively.
An application for a third project at Docking Shoal, also off the Norfolk Coast, has been refused due to the potential impact on seabirds in the area. The Sandwich tern colonies at Blakeney Point and Scolt Head Island fall within the North Norfolk Coast Special Protection Area (SPA), a Natura 2000 site protected under the EU Birds and Habitats Directives.
The UK renewable energy roadmap published last year set out that the UK could have up to 18GW of offshore wind capacity by 2020.
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