UK Offshore wind energy reaches 1GW - Main parties hail achievement

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.bwea.com/media/news/articles/pr20100423.html

Offshore wind energy reaches 1GW

Main parties hail achievement

Friday 23 April 2010

• UK world leader in the sector with 1 gigawatt (GW) of installed wind farms, providing energy for 700,000 homes
• Landmark reached with installation of DONG Energy’s Gunfleet Sands and E.ON’s Robin Rigg
• Development pipeline now over 40GW, sufficient to provide bulk of UK’s electricity

The landmark first gigawatt (GW) of installed offshore UK wind energy capacity has been reached this week as two wind farms off the coast of Britain began generating electricity: Robin Rigg operated by EON and Gunfleet Sands operated by DONG Energy. One GW, now comprising of 11 wind farms, or 336 installed wind turbines, cements UK’s world-wide lead in the sector.

Maria McCaffery, RenewableUK Chief Executive said: “The UK offshore wind industry has come of age. In the last ten years we have built a brand new world-leading industry sector that will create long-term value for this country. In the first quarter of this year alone half a billion pounds of private investment has been invested directly into offshore wind in the UK.

The opportunity now for this country is to build on this position of global leadership to develop the industrial and service supply chain to provide the equipment and skills that will embed Britain’s competitive advantage in marine renewables. To have deployed 1,000MW of offshore wind plant in ten years, and with pioneering technology, is a tremendous step forward.”

Currently, there are over 40GW of offshore wind farms at various stages of development, with over 4GW in construction or with planning consent . The sector is set to provide 150+ TWh of carbon free electricity a year, compared to the UK’s total electricity consumption in 2009 of 374 TWh, creating up to 70,000 ‘green collar’ jobs and attracting billions of pounds in investment. As the Digest of United Kingdom of Energy Statistics for 2009, released last month, has noted, load factors for offshore wind are now on par with UK hydro at 35% and only 5% less than average load factors for conventional thermal generation.

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State at the Department of Energy Climate Change, said: “It is great news that we've reached the 1GW landmark. The UK is now the world leader in offshore wind energy generation. We are also set to be a centre of manufacturing for offshore wind.

We're creating the right conditions and incentives to maximise the potential of our wind resource so we can create thousands of new jobs and generate our own home-grown, clean, secure energy. Labour is committed to maintaining the renewables obligation and reforming the planning system to build on this progress. We will also create the Green Investment Bank and maintain the Annual Investment Allowance to support our renewables industry.”

Greg Clark, Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: “Britain’s offshore wind resources have world-beating potential and can provide us with secure and sustainable energy. I congratulate the offshore wind industry on reaching the 1GW landmark, but we have potential to go much further.

Offshore wind needs the right infrastructure, like the offshore electricity grid Conservatives have proposed, if it is to deliver on its potential at the lowest cost.”

Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: “We are delighted to see the first gigawatt of installed wind energy capacity. It is an important milestone but we need to do much more if we are to cut carbon emissions and our reliance on fuel imported from abroad.

Investing in infrastructure for a new green economy not only helps create jobs now but will allow Britain to take its place at the cutting edge of this growing industrial sector for the future. That’s why the Liberal Democrats have ambitious plans to invest £400m in our wind turbine manufacturing capacity. Britain clearly has the manufacturing and engineering expertise to lead the world in offshore wind, but the government has an important role in supporting this.”

Speaking on behalf of DONG Energy Anders Eldrup, CEO, said: "This is a very important day for both the UK and DONG Energy in the ambitious work of putting more wind power into the energy system. And along with partners we already have the next three wind farms under construction with a total capacity of another 1 GW."

Speaking on behalf of EON UK Michael Lewis, European Renewables Managing Director, said: “Meeting the 1GW offshore wind milestone is testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire industry. Offshore wind is a challenging environment in which to work, but the potential benefits it brings through the generation of clean renewable energy can be clearly seen.

“We’re incredibly proud that our own site, Robin Rigg, has helped the UK to meet this high point and are looking forward to building even bigger schemes like the London Array in the coming years.”

-ENDS-

NOTES

1. Current operational UK offshore wind farms are:
   
   Barrow
   Beatrice
   Blyth Offshore
   Burbo Bank
   Kentish Flats
   Lynn & Inner Dowsing
   North Hoyle
   Rhyl Flats
   Scroby Sands
   Robin Rigg
   Gunfleet Sands
   
   Total: 1,041.2MW (1.041GW)


2. Statistics on load factors and electricity production: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/publications/dukes/dukes.aspx


3. Total 40GW+ pipeline of UK offshore projects is comprised of Rounds 1, 2 and 3, current extensions to Round 1 and 2 projects and Scottish territorial Waters projects. Statistics on immediate projects in construction, with planning consent or in planning can be found here: http://www.bwea.com/statistics/

[NNadir]

1. Given the capacity factor of wind, that's the equivalent of building a 250 MW gas plant.

The energy spent in cheering won't even be covered by it. You couldn't run all the computers in the Liverpool on that much energy.

[kristopher]

2. No it isn't.

Offshore wind has a much higher capacity factor, between 40-44%.

[joshcryer]

3. In practice, more like 28%:

PDF: http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file48005.pdf

[Statistical]

5. Ouch. My understanding was offshore was 40%-45%.

I mean offshore costs a LOT more to install and maintain than onshore.

If it only gets 2% higher capacity factor then ..... ouch.

I wish I had read your post before I defended Kris down thread. :)

[joshcryer]

6. I looked for actual statistics from UK government, I actually found a site with his number.

However, I determined that http://www.restats.org.uk/methodologies.htm">they derived the 40% number from some article from 1997. Getting the data directly from the UK Energy Digest is akin to going to the EIA. You will not get better than that.

[kristopher]

11. That's onshore wind Josh.

http://www.claverton-energy.com/two-terawatts-average-power-output-the-uk-offshore-wind-resource.html

Hello there Alistair,
yes, they do reflect capacity factors: they are not maximum output, they are based on the available wind power, as mapped at http://www.renewables-atlas.info/ .

Whereas wind turbines onshore in Britain average around 27% capacity factor, and near offshore tends to be more like 30-35%, the Round 3 sites are expected to be in the range 40-45%, and the very best sites can be even higher – the onshore site at Burradale in the Shetlands has seen annual capacity factors over 50%. This geographic variation is reflected in the calculations above.

[joshcryer]

13. It says offshore.

[kristopher]

16. I stand corrected, that is what it says.

However, it isn't an accurate number for what UK offshore wind is now delivering or will deliver in the future. The 2009 UK average offshore CF is reported as about 35% in various articles and there is no reason to think that the 40-45% level will not be a reality soon. Remember, the first round of construction was extremely close to shore and the 3 projects involved in the 2007 stat total the first 212MW of offshore wind and they came online 2003, 2004, and 2005.

How was progress on nuclear power's capacity factor it's first decade of operations?


Some history
http://www.bwea.com/offshore/info.html

Some stats on what is in the near term future of the UK:
Now under construction offshore:
1117MW
Now under construction onshore:
556MW
Total: 1,675.80 MW

Permits complete offshore:
3,127.20 MW
Already permitted onshore:
4,342.43 MW
Total: 7,469.63 MW


Projects in planning offshore:
2,260.00 MW
Projects in planning onshore:
7,654.89 MW
Total: 9,914.89 MW


That is 19,059MW of capacity in the pipeline to add to the 4,491MW already built.
http://www.bwea.com/statistics/

[joshcryer]

17. I'm fine with "what it will deliver in the future."

I'd be ecstatic for 45% capacity factor. I don't use weasel language and reports to downplay capacity factor of any carbon free energy.

Using their old calculation for capacity factor (see the Excel file I linked) it's around 30% and it will no doubt improve in the future. So might other energy sources.

[joshcryer]

15. Go here kristopher, straight from DUKES:

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/source/renewables/renewables.aspx and click "Capacity of, and electricity generated from, renewable sources"

Years: '04 '05 '06 '07 '08
Onshore wind 26.6 26.4 27.2 27.5 27.0
Offshore wind 24.2 27.2 28.7 25.6 30.4

10-15% less than you claimed. Average capacity factor of 27.2%

[Statistical]

4. For once Kris is actually right.

More like 400 to 500 MW nuclear plant (85%-90% capacity factor) or 500 to 600 MW coal plant (70%-80%).

On edit: looks UK offshore wind potential sucks (28% capacity factor vs 40% global average).

[joshcryer]

7. Sadly, the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics is not available for free.

It could be a trove of information. It may be that some wind farms are hurting the capacity factor of other ones, thus ruining the total capacity factor for all offshore in the UK.

[Statistical]

8. Could be. Also capacity factor doesn't tell us why output dropped.

Some of it may be less than projected wind energy, however some of it may be maintenance issues, repairs, having to idle farms to protect them from storms, etc.

[joshcryer]

14. It's online! This is great:

Here: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/publications/dukes/dukes.aspx

And here (for more detailed breakdowns): http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/source/source.aspx

Apparently they got it to go from 24.2 in 2004 to 30.2 in 2008: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/source/renewables/renewables.aspx

Click "Capacity of, and electricity generated from, renewable sources"

[Nihil]

18. Thanks for those links. (n/t)

:toast:

[joshcryer]

19. No problem. Bookmark for truth! :)

[jpak]

9. fuel cost for wind = 0, for nuclear >0

statistics

yup

[Statistical]

10. Fuel costs for nuclear = negligble.

Maintenance costs for offshore wind are very high.

This is major reason why the vast majority of wind farms are onshore, despite having lower capacity factor, issues with roads, land destruction, and transmission lines.

[jpak]

12. fuel cost for wind = 0, for nuclear >0 and not "negligible"

and uranium mines and nuclear power plants have no "issues" with land destruction and transmission lines etc.

is that what you want us to believe?

:rofl:

Oh yeah - Maine Yankee's license runs out in 2012 - what is its load factor today?

clue: zero

What are the load factors of operating wind farms in Maine?

clue: close to 40%

yup

:rofl: