Round 3 of UK Offshore Wind Farm Development
08 Jan 2010
SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc) is a member of two consortia which have been awarded development partner status by The Crown Estate in Round 3 of its UK offshore wind farm development programme.
Forewind, formed by SSE, RWE npower renewables, Statoil and Statkraft, has been awarded development partner status for the 9GW (gigawatts) offshore wind farm proposed for Dogger Bank, 125km from the coast of Yorkshire.
Seagreen, formed by SSE and Fluor Corporation, has been awarded development partner status for the proposed 3.4GW offshore wind farm proposed for the Firth of Forth, 25km from the coast of Fife.
SSE's capacity share of the two proposed wind farm developments totals around 4GW. Over the next few years, both consortia will be working closely with The Crown Estate to undertake site-specific surveys, secure grid connections and work with stakeholders before bringing forward applications to build the wind farms. As a result, construction work would not begin until 2015 at the earliest.
During 2009, SSE was awarded exclusive rights from The Crown Estate to develop offshore wind farms at locations in Scottish territorial waters (including two where it is in partnership with other specialist developers) with a total capacity of over 2GW.
SSE and RWE npower renewables are already developing the 500MW (megawatt) Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm in the outer Thames Estuary and in December 2009 SSE entered into an agreement with DONG Energy to acquire a 25.1% stake in the 367MW Walney offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea, which is expected to become operational next year.
Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, said: "Harnessing the power of offshore wind will enable the UK to generate significant amounts of clean energy from a totally renewable source. It therefore meets the country's energy security and climate change objectives.
"Our success in the Round 3 process adds to our options for developing our generation portfolio in the longer term. The strength of those options in offshore wind is reinforced by our partnerships with other developers, in line with our drive to minimise the inevitable risks involved in projects of this kind and to maximise the development capability.
"We have already made it clear that our priority for the next three years is to successfully complete and commission the offshore wind farms at Greater Gabbard and Walney. The opportunities we have secured through the Round 3 process are for development in the second half of this new decade, but they are opportunities it was vital for us to secure now in line with our long-term ambitions in offshore wind."