Eyebrows are often raised on hearing the declaration that the UK is a world leader. With regards to offshore wind power generation, that declaration is true. A recent industry conference, hosted by MPA-The Concrete Centre, heard how the concrete sector has the solutions and capacity to ensure that UK offshore wind generation continues to power ahead.
The UK has built more offshore wind farms than any other country in the world, accounting for nearly all of the turbines erected in European waters during 2011. And, there is more to come. The Government is committed to installing 3,000 additional wind turbines over the next nine years taking the current 1.3GW of energy generated by offshore wind power to 18GW. At the conference, the support of the Government for offshore wind power was underlined by Chris Pook, Head of the Green Economy Team, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, who opened the conference. Stating that offshore wind power is integral to the UK’s transition to a greener economy, Pook highlighted the establishment of CORES, centres for offshore renewables engineering, which aim to provide local centres of excellence for development and manufacturing via partnership between central and local government and industry and so pull together both investment focus and offshore expertise. Initial proposed locations for CORES include Tyneside, Teeside, The Humber, Great Yarmouth and Sheerness. Pook believes that the time is right for investment in offshore wind power and stated
that: “2012 will be a crucial year for offshore development and the Government is keen to work with industry to develop and deliver offshore solutions”.
As managers of the UK seabed out to a 12 nautical mile limit, Crown Estate has a major role to play in the development of the offshore wind energy industry. Adrian Fox, Supply Chain Manager for Crown Estates, outlined what he described as being the world’s largest offshore wind farm programme. He warned, however, that the potential of offshore wind power would only be truly realised with the delivery of greater cost efficiencies for the manufacture, installation and operation of wind turbines. The Crown Estate is currently undertaking a series of cost studies examining potential cost savings. Emerging themes include greater site optimisation, early contractor involvement, increased data sharing and project collaboration, larger rotors and more efficient foundation installation. Ultimately, the challenge is to achieve a cost of £100 per megawatt of power generation. With regards to foundations for offshore turbines, Fox believes that the third and future rounds of The Crown Estate leasing could favour gravity foundation solutions due to the increased water depth and distance from shore demanding a more robust and maintenance free solution. Indeed, from a depth of 25m – 30m and more, gravity foundations could be the economic solution of choice.
