UK wind takes off The windiest year on record In the UK, 2002 has been a year of many firsts for the wind indus- try; landmark planning decisions, both onshore and offshore, new ways of developing projects, a record amount of planning approvals and a higher than ever increase in new generation capa- bilities, all against the backdrop of increasing recognition of the role wind power can play as part of a secure, sustainable and diverse energy supply mix for the UK. .~L~scM~~ Mill, British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) gives an update on the current situation in the UK.

There will be good cause for celebration

when the UK wind industry meets in

Brighton for its annual conference and exhi-

bition in October. The year 2002 has been

the single most successful year for the

industry ever and there’s plenty more ro

come. With a resource equivalent to several

times the country’s electricity demands, a

well-established technology which generates

electricity at some of the lowest prices in

Europe, and a policy framework which pro-

vides a long-term market for renewables, all

the components are now in place for the

UK wind industry to begin to realize its

long-awaited potential.

New wind energy capacity New plant commissioned in 2002 will see

the UK’s wind generation increase by 20%,

a substantial increase on previous years. Just

under IOOMW will come on-line during

2002, at 14 locations across the country,

including 4 in Wales. However, this is set to

rise to as much as 60% in 2003, and as

much again in 2004, as projects which have

already won planning permission are

brought to completion. A record number of

planning approvals for wind power have

been granted this year, with 15 projects

totaling 385.75MW installed capacity

already approved by the end of July!

Meanwhile a further 1.3GW is currentll

working its way through the planning sy~

tern and BWBA is aware of at least 2.65GVa

of proposals in the pipeline, both on am

offshore.

Wind power’s share of the 2010 target This is significant and necessary progress5

industry calculations show that 7000MVli

installed capacity will be required by 20 10 ii

wind power is to meet its expected contrii

bution to the UK government’s target fo)

renewables. As the most advanced and well

established of the available renewable cech-

nologies, wind power is widely anticipatec

to meet at least half of the lo%, from both

onshore and offshore development. Even

assuming only half of the -4GW of knower

projects at various early stages of develop--

ment are approved, combined with whatt

has already passed through the planning

system, the industry can expect to have a~

solid 3GW of new capaciry in place over the:

next rwo to three years. This would see the!

required rate of deployment drop dramati--

tally from the currently necessary factor off

14 to just less than 3.

Renewables Obligation This rising interest in wind energy evi-

denced in the UK comes from two main

drivers; economic and environmental, neat-

ly packaged in the Renewables Obligation.

Described by the Energy Minister as “a cor-

ner stone of our policy to unlock the door

to green energy in this country”, the

Renewables Obligation places the onus

directly on electricity supply companies to

source increasing proportions of their sup-

ply from renewables, up to 10.4% by 20 IO,

September/October 2002 REF www.re-focus.net

FEATURE UK WIND TAKES OFF

a level which will be maintained until 2027.

Each unit of electricity generated from an

accredited technology qualifies for a

Renewables Obligation Certificate or ROC.

Initially set at 3 pence per unit, trading in

ROCs has already increased this by 50% to

4.5 pence per unit, only months after the

Obligation was introduced. Growth in the

tradable value of ROCs is a side effect of

this new market for renewables, and has

done much to encourage investment in

renewables, even before the Obligation was

made legislation. This was clearly seen as

long ago as February, and again in August,

when the results of the most recent auctions

of green electricity from NFFO contracts by

the Non-Fossil Purchasing Agency saw

prices for renewables more than double. For

the first time, a greater value is placed on

the green credentials of electricity than the

price of power itself, a message heeded by

industry and leading directly to a growth in

renewable projects proposed and, with

time, in the ground.

Large-scale plant Much of the growth in capacities expected

over the coming years can be attributed to

larger-scale projects. Advances in the tech-

nology have led to larger more powerful

machines, which combined with a guaran-

teed market for their output has allowed the

industry to utilize economies of scale and

develop bigger projects. Wind power can

now play the numbers game; whereas some

wind farms have previously been dismissed

as being too small to be significant, genera-

tion of this scale is on an equal footing with

the output of conventional plant. This was

clearly demonstrated earlier this year with

the first approval for wind under section 36

of the Electricity Act, applicable to plant

over 50 megawatts in capacity. The Cefn

Croes project near Aberystwyth once com-

pleted will produce roughly 1% of total

Welsh electricity needs from its 39 1.5MW

machines. Further section 36 applications

for onshore schemes have already been

lodged with the Scottish Executive, repre-

senting a minimum 500MW and further

proposals are being developed, including

plans for what will be the largest wind farm

in the world, GOOMW plus on the Isle of

Lewis.

Brownfield sites The reality of larger capacity wind projects

has been further reinforced by approval for

45MW at the UK’s largest brownfield site

to date, Tees Wind North. The I&turbine

project will be designed and developed by

AMEC Wind and Corus on the latter’s

Construction work at Out Newton windfarm in Yorkshire (Photo: Powergen Renewables)

91 l-hectare steelworks site near Redcar in

the north east of the country. This project,

the first of a possible nine further Corus

sites throughout the UK and northern

Europe, will increase the region’s wind

capacity by a factor of three, generating suf-

ficient electricity to meet the needs of

30,000 households each year. Brownfield or

semi-industrial development is a new

avenue for the industry and one which may

overcome the only valid objection which

can be made against wind turbines, namely

that some people don’t like the way they

look. It would be hard indeed to uphold

claims of visual impact against such indus-

trial backdrops. With projects such as

ScottishPower’s proposed 25MW project

on the heavily contaminated Ardeer

Peninsula which previously housed Alfred

Nobel’s TNT factory, and between 30-

50MW at the Hunterston coal shipyard at

Glasgow, brownfield developments are like-

ly to be an increasing feature of the UK’s

wind energy landscape. These installations

will follow the brownfield examples already

laid down by the Mersey Harbour

Company at the Royal Seaforth Dock and

Sainsburys supermarket chain.

Offshore The UK will soon boast a wind energy

seascape also, with consent already in place

for the first of the large-scale offshore pro-

jects. The UK’s only offshore turbines, lkm

off the coast of Blyth in the north east of the

country, will soon be joined by larger instal-

lations off the East of England and North

Wales. Consent was granted in April for

76MW at Scroby Sands, a sand bank 3km

north east of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk,

followed in July by consent for 90MW at

North Hoyle, approximately 7.5km off-

shore from Prestatyn and Rhyl in

Denbighshire. Work at Scroby Sands will

begm thts year to avoid the tourist season,

with the laying of the export cable, which

will run underground roughly 3kms south

from where it beaches to the sub-station.

Powergen Renewables will start work on the

foundations for the thirty 2MW machines

TbeVestas-Celtic factory in Scotland employs 101 people

September/October 2002 RE~~~~~ www.re-focus.net 23

FEATURE - UK WIND TAKES OFF

at the beginning of next year, with the pro-

ject completed by the end of summer.

Meanwhile at North Hoyle, the National

Wind Power development team are waiting

for the remaining marine, navigational and

local consents to begin construction, but

hope to have the 30 Vestas 2MW turbines

operational by autumn 2003.

Four more offshore projects, at various

locations along the west coast of the UK and

one off the east coast, are currently being

considered by the Energy Minister and a

further six are due to be submitted before

the end of the year. The remaining six ‘first

round’ projects are expected to be ready to

submit the following year. The next stages

for the UK’s offshore programme are of

course the release of further seabed sites in

what has become known as ‘further off-

shore’. That is not just larger scale wind pro-

jects, which may be at greater distances

from shore, and extending beyond the terri-

torial limits, but also, given the evident syn-

ergies, applicable to all marine renewable

technologies. The wind industry, through

BWEA, has been involved in ongoing dis-

cussions with both Government and the

Crown Estate on what shape this mecha-

nism might take, and the ‘Further offshore’

consultation is expected to be launched in

October at BWEA24 and could see new

build as early as 2006.

Local schemes At the other end of the scale, there has been

a renewed focus on smaller schemes, aimed

at the community level. Typically featuring

smaller numbers of turbines, such as single

installations or clusters of 3 to 6 machines,

community renewables have an equally

valid role in the UK’s future energy mix.

Examples include National Wind Power’s

‘WindWorks’, the first of which received

planning approval this year. The High

Sharpley Wind Turbine Cluster near

Seaham in County Durham comprises just

A view at Vistas-Celtici 100,000 sq.fi jhctory in Scotland

Cemmaes II Wind farm upgraded with 18 Veztas (V5L’) KSORW twbines (Photo: Cumbria Windfhms)

2 machines, but at 1.3MW each they will

generate enough clean power to meet the

electricity needs of around 1,600 homes

each year - equivalent to half the homes in

the nearby town of Murton. Planning per-

mission has also been granted for what will

be the single largest turbine in the UK, a

3.2MW machine at England’s most easterly

point, Ness Point in Lowestoft, Sussex. A

prototype installation, the GE Wind Energy

machine will be erected on land, 20 metres

from the waters edge, but with full offshore

specifications. If it performs as expected,

then further UK installations will follow.

Definitely at least one these will be the GE

Wind Energy Gunfleet Sands offshore pro-

posal. The developers of Ness Point, SLP

Energy, hope to have the project completed

by the end of this year, but are currently

working on the design aspects of incorpo-

rating a viewing platform at the top of the

turbine tower. This will accommodate local

community wishes to make a tourist attrac-

tion of the development.

Repowering Meanwhile, another chapter in British wind

history closed with the repowering of the

Cemmaes site in central Wales. The first

wind farm in Wales was originally devel-

oped in 1992 with 24 Wind Energy Group

30OkW machines. These distinctive two-

bladed models turned for the last time in

July 2001, and nine months later their

replacements, eighteen Vestas V52s rated at

85OkW, were generating electricity for the

grid. With almost 50% higher power pro-

duction from 25% fewer many machines,

Cemmaes II highlights the potential of

repowering as another avenue for the UK

wind industry, where much of the early

development during the 90s was done using

machines that are now obsolete.

First wind turbine manufacturing base Further proof of the rising status of the wind

power sector was clearly demonstrated with

the opening of the first turbine manufactur-

ing plant in the UK. A subsidiary of the

world’s leading manufacturer, the Vestas -

Celtic Wind Technology 100,000 sq.ft fac-

tory on the site of the former RAF

Machrihanish base in Kintyre already

employs 101 people, with a further 20 staff

expected by the end of the year and eco-

nomic spin-offs estimated to create another

44 jobs. Positioned to take advantage of the

wind energy market in the UK (expected to

amount to almost L6 billion over the coming

10 years), the new factory and its workforce

are an important addition to the UK’s

already strong performance in the turbine

sub-supply chain; 43% of components of

turbines operational in the UK are of domes-

tic manufacture.

The opportunity for a new industry for

the UK, generating cheap clean electricity

from a fuel that will never run out, bringing

employment and economic wealth along-

side a secure and diverse energy s~~pply, wind

power is truly a green industrial revolution.

Contact: BWEA, Renewable Energy

House, 1 Aztec Row, Berners Road, London

NI OPW, UK. Tel: +44 20 7689 1960; Fax:

+44 20 7689 1969; info@bwea.com;

www.bwea.com

24 September/October 2002 REi;-CKLI% www.re-focus.net