Another offshore wind farm approved

22 Sep 2008

A 500 megawatt wind farm is to be built off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, after receiving consent from the Business Department (BERR) in September.

Morecambe Wind - a consortium made up of Scottish Power, Eurus Energy and Danish wind firm DONG Energy - received consent for the West of Duddon Sands wind farm under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989.

It is the third offshore wind farm to receive consent this year following the 315MW Sheringham Shoal and 64MW Gunfleet Sands projects (ENDS Reports 403, p 16   and 398, p 14  ).

In September, BERR also gave consent to Ormonde Energy for an expanded version of its planned wind farm off the coast of Cumbria. Ormonde already had consent for a 108MW wind farm, but it will now be 150MW in size.

The construction date of both projects is dependent on negotiations with wind turbine manufacturers.

  • Danish wind turbine maker Vestas is to build a research and development centre on the Isle of Wight to test prototype wind turbine blades. It will open in 2010. The firm has also announced that 2 and 3MW blades made at its existing facility on the island will be sold into the UK market. They were previously exported to the US.

    Several recent reports have said the UK will struggle to meet its 2020 renewable energy target due primarily to offshore wind supply chain constraints (ENDS Report 403, pp 13-14 ).

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