Wind Energy and renewable energy blog

Offshore Wind Energy Projects Storm Ahead in the UK

DONG Energy installed its first wind turbine at Gunfleet Sands, off the Essex coast this morning.

The wind turbine is the UK’s first in the second round or “Round 2″ of constructing offshore wind farms as laid out and licensed by The Crown Estate in 2003. The project will have a capacity of 172 MW using 48 turbines at 3.6 MW each, and is due for completion by 2010.

Neils Bergh-Hansen, Executive Vice President at DONG Energy said:

UK Government and Ofgem Announce Final Offshore Grid Consultation

UK energy regulator Ofgem expects offshore wind energy to make a significant contribution to UK renewable energy targets with 8 Gigawatts (GW) already planned and potential for up to a further 25 GW.

Plans to build these huge offshore wind energy projects moved forward a small step earlier this week when The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and Ofgem announced the final consultation stage for the new regulatory framework for the grid connection regime.

Offshore Wind in Need of Finance Boost

Over the last year we have seen some companies pull out of UK offshore wind energy, notably Shell, whilst others buy in. More recently we have seen even the big players hesitate with Centrica delaying construction of its 250MW east coast Lincs wind farm by at least a year. The company is blaming the supply chain after reviewing the project’s economics.

Centrica had reached the stage of talking to wind turbine manufacturers and contractors but has now put the brakes on.

ABB Grid Storage System to be trialled for Offshore Wind Energy Project

EDF Energy has announced that together with ABB it will research and trial “smart grid” technology in a new dynamic energy storage system to help the grid handle new power generation from a UK offshore wind energy project.

UK takes first place as world leader in offshore wind energy generation

This week the UK overtook Denmark to become the biggest offshore wind energy generator in the world.

Electricity generator Centrica completed construction of a new offshore wind farm near Skegness this week and increased the number of offshore wind farms in UK waters to a total of 9. The wind farms comprise around 300 turbines with a total installed capacity of 598 megawatts.

Is the US Really Anti- Reducing Carbon Emissions

The Wall Street Journal today announces that the Interior Department, the agency that handles oil and gas leases in US waters is preparing to lease big sections of the sea bed to companies for huge offshore wind farms.