Offshore wind power developers need to find 10,000 km2 of sea area if UK renewable energy aspirations are to be met according to a government report.
A strategic environmental assessment carried out by The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) calculated that up to 10,000 km2 of sea area would be needed to accommodate 25 Gigawatts (GW) of installed offshore wind energy capacity. This area of sea could be difficult to find given the number of ecological constraints – birds and marine life – and the need for shallow waters for economic reasons.
The map shows the area of sea with 0-60m depth potentially suitable for development, with a buffer around oil and gas facilities and a distance from the shore of 12 nautical miles. Most of the economically suitable areas are in the shallower waters close to shore. If we are to make an inroads into our renewable energy targets some of these ‘constraint buffers’ will need to be re-prioritised – does it matter that we will be able to see the wind farms from the coast, if we are going to produce 20% of our energy from renewable sources?
The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) believes that finding space in the UK seas for offshore wind farms is “vital to reaching our 2020 renewable energy targets“.
