British Government Calling for Bids to Build Up to 25 Gigawatts of Offshore Wind Turbines
June 4th, 2008Via: Reuters:
The government opened a major new phase on Wednesday in its drive for renewable energy, calling for bids to build up to 25 gigawatts of offshore wind turbines, triple the amount in the pipeline.
The announcement by the government agency, the Crown Estate, which owns the seabed surrounding the country was welcomed by British Wind Energy Association chairman Adam Bruce as “impressively bold.”
Under rounds one and two of offshore renewable power generation leasing programme a total of eight gigawatts of wind turbines are under development.
Round three announced on Wednesday would raise that to 33 gigawatts, equivalent to one quarter of the country’s electricity supply.
“The expansion of wind energy is already a real success story for the UK. We will shortly become the leading country in the world in terms of the number of wind farms operating offshore. The potential for round three will add to that success,” said Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks.
The BWEA said that if round three met its goal it would mean some 5,000 more wind turbines being built in the 11 sites around the coastline identified by the Crown Estate.
Rob Hastings, head of the Crown Estate’s marine section, said he anticipated investment of 60 to 80 billion pounds would be necessary to achieve the round three goal.
To help the process the Crown Estate will meet up to half the pre-construction costs, including getting planning consents and enabling works to speed delivery.
