• Wednesday, 16 May, 2012

Catching the north-west wind

 23 January 2004 00:20 GMT

Danish energy group Dong, with joint venture partners Centrica and Norwegian power company Statkraft, are taking the first steps with their plans to start building a £100 million ($180 million) wind farm off Walney Island, near Barrow, writes Christopher Hopson.
Construction work on the 90 megawatt wind farm could begin this year or in 2005. It is hoped the work will be completed and the wind farm operational by late 2005. The project's expected life is 20 years.

The wind farm, which is intended to have some 30 turbines, will be built 9.6 kilometres off Walney. When it becomes fully operational, it is expected to produce around 320 gigawatt hours per annum of power.

Sources indicate that the plan is for the new wind farm to be connected to the Heysham power station although there is local pressure on the venture partners to pick Barrow as the best location for the power to come ashore.

The joint venture acquired the offshore wind farm company Barrow Offshore Wind (Bow) from Warwick Energy last September. Dong and Statkraft will each hold a 37.5% stake in Bow while Centrica will have the remaining 25% interest. The English north-west is one of three strategic areas of shallow sea providing for the biggest ever expansion of renewable energy in Britain.

In the second round of offshore wind licensing, unveiled before Christmas, a total of 15 new coastal sites were awarded.

The offshore wind farm at Walney is one of three to be developed in the north-west region, which stretches from the north Wales coast to the Solway Firth. The other two are Gwynt y Mor, being developed by National Wind Power, and West Duddon by Scottish Power.

User

Become an Upstream member!

Membership includes a subscription to our weekly newspaper providing in-depth news from the energy industry, plus full-access to this site and its archives. Still not convinced? Try our free trial.

Already a member?

Login

Upstream share price index

Recruitment
See all available positions
Events
2
06.05.2012

06

May

06.05.2012 -  20th Middle East Petroleum & Gas Conference (MPGC 2012)

MPGC 2012 will be held from 6-8 May and is returning to Bahrain again, on the occasion of its 20th Anniversary. The conference will be held under the Patronage of His Excellency Dr. Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, Minister of Energy-Chairman of National Oil & Gas Authority, Kingdom of Bahrain and with National Oil & Gas Authority (NOGA) & The Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) as hosts.
The Conference Connection Inc
Read more »
07.05.2012

07

May

07.05.2012 -  20th Middle East Petroleum & Gas Conference (MPGC 2012)

MPGC 2012 will be held from 6-8 May and is returning to Bahrain again, on the occasion of its 20th Anniversary. The conference will be held under the Patronage of His Excellency Dr. Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, Minister of Energy-Chairman of National Oil & Gas Authority, Kingdom of Bahrain and with National Oil & Gas Authority (NOGA) & The Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) as hosts.
The Conference Connection Inc
Read more »
08.05.2012

08

May

08.05.2012 -  20th Middle East Petroleum & Gas Conference (MPGC 2012)

MPGC 2012 will be held from 6-8 May and is returning to Bahrain again, on the occasion of its 20th Anniversary. The conference will be held under the Patronage of His Excellency Dr. Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, Minister of Energy-Chairman of National Oil & Gas Authority, Kingdom of Bahrain and with National Oil & Gas Authority (NOGA) & The Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) as hosts.
The Conference Connection Inc
Read more »