ScottishPower Renewables gives green light to 'best value offshore wind farm in the world'

Energy giant announces final investment decision for giant £2.5bn East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm, which will deliver power at £119/MWh

ScottishPower Renewables has today confirmed it is to start work on the 714MW East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm, hailing it as the “best value offshore windfarm in the world”.

The company said it had reached a final investment decision for the £2.5bn project, which is now expected to create up to 3,000 jobs during construction before coming fully online in 2020.

The project is expected to deliver enough clean power for 500,000 homes and has secured a price support contract of £119/MWh through the UK’s first renewable energy auction process.

ScottishPower Renewables said the contract meant the project would deliver clean power at a price that is 15 per cent lower than any other offshore wind farm project currently under construction in UK waters.

The projects is also regarded as the latest step towards the industry’s goal of delivering offshore wind power at a price of below £100/MWh from 2020, a benchmark that ministers have said developers will have to meet if the industry is to continue to expand post-2020.

However, critics of offshore wind development, including supporters of some rival clean technologies, argue costs remain at more than double current wholesale power prices and have called for greater competition between all clean energy sources for price support contracts.

“East Anglia ONE will deliver substantial environmental benefits for the UK, it will stimulate considerable UK investment, and it will support thousands of jobs,” said Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables East Anglia ONE project director, in a statement. “Offshore wind has proven itself as a technology that works, and the more offshore wind capacity we have in the UK, the more secure our energy supplies will be.”

He added that the project would provide a boost to the wider East Anglia region, with the company inking a £25m deal with the Port of Lowestoft and vowing to spend at least half of the total £2.5bn investment in the UK.

“East Anglia has some of the best conditions anywhere in the world for the development of offshore wind, and we are fully committed to the region, with future developments already in the pipeline,” Jordan said. “ScottishPower Renewables is leading the way with its approach of actively working towards a target of at least 50 per cent UK supply chain content over the lifetime of the East Anglia ONE project. We have already worked with a wide range of companies across East Anglia and we look forward to working with many more.”

The announcement is the latest boost to an offshore wind sector that has been tipped by Ministers to play a major role in the UK’s future clean energy mix, as long as it continues to deliver cost reductions.

The news follows confirmation from rival developer DONG Energy that it is to build the giant 1.2GW Hornsea Project One wind farm, touted as the world’s largest wind farm, off the Yorkshire coast, delivering clean power to over one million homes from 2020.

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ScottishPower Renewables gives green light to "best value offshore wind farm in the world"

Wind farms generate €12b in value

Business Nature Netherlands

Wind farms generate €12b in value

According to Natuur & Milieu (Nature & Environment), wind farms on the sea provide billions to environmental gains, if the social benefits are included.

The study the environmental organization published today states that if the avoided climate damage, from current electricity production from gas and coal, is taken into account, the positive balanced can amount to more than 12 billion euro.

Negative climate impacts are limited by the large-scale deployment of wind energy. According to Natuur & Milieu, the social returns thereof are wrongly calculated. The public debate focus sole on the high investment costs and subsidies. The Second Chamber will debate Minister Kamp’s (Economic Affairs) plans for offshore wind farms tonight.

Natuur & Milieu asked the office SEO Economic Research of the University of Amsterdam to make a social cost-benefit analysis of the wind plans at sea. The environmental impact of CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil materials was included in the calculations. Offshore wind farms will ultimately reduce the CO2 emissions.

According to Natuur & Milieu, wind energy is a smart insurance policy. “Wind farms save high costs for future generations. They are an excellent insurance for our (grand) children. We must invest now to reduce future damage”, says director Tjerk Wagenaar.

The organization believes that the economic cost calculations for wind energy are currently too one-sided. “We are not building wind farms to develop optimal business models, but to keep climate change within limits. Therefore it is important to include climate effects, translated into CO2 costs.” says Wagenaar. “Otherwise you get the bizarre effect that we cheer for the best business model for a windmill while in that scenario the climate damage is perhaps the greatest. A social cost-benefit analysis takes these effects into account.”

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Wind farms generate €12b in value

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