Where are offshore windfarms and where will they be?
Development in Norfolk/Suffolk, development area.
Yarmouth Area
The 30-turbine wind farm on Scroby Sands, 3km off the coast, has
become an instant attraction for summer tourists to Yarmouth. Britain's
largest offshore wind farm was commissioned by Powergen Renewables
to provide enough power for 41,000 homes and save 75,000 tonnes
of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.
Scroby Sands is the perfect place for an offshore wind farm with
shallow waters and offshore sand banks, along with relatively high
wind speeds and low wave forces. It also offers the right infrastructure
for the site, such as port access and electrical grid connection
at Yarmouth.
The £75m project has been managed by Yarmouth firm ODE, as
part of its diversification from the oil and gas industry, and the
wind farm was due to start generating electricity by August 2004.
The project has been largely welcomed following careful environmental
studies to ensure there would be no threat to the Scroby Sands seal
colony or the little terns - Britain's second rarest seabird - which
visit Yarmouth's shores every summer.
Outer Yarmouth Harbour
The building of an outer harbour at Yarmouth is considered a key
factor in the development of new wind energy industries in the region.
A government decision on whether to release public funds for the
£38m project - vital for it to go ahead - was due to be announced
in the summer of 2004. The harbour would make it possible for a
wind turbine manufacturer to set up in the region, and - ahead of
any announcement - Dale Vince, the boss of Ecotricity, said his
firm was already at the stage of a "serious feasibility study"
into such a project with Yarmouth being a front runner. Industry
leaders say the East Coast around Yarmouth and Lowestoft is ideally
placed to become a centre for wind energy industries, replacing
jobs lost in the declining oil and gas industries.
The area is accessible to both the Wash and Thames Estuary where
most of the next round of "super wind farms" will be built
from 2006, and both ports have a ready supply of labour, with transferable
skills, from the oil and gas industries. There are also geographic
advantages with a naturally windy climate. A spokesman for Renewables
East said wind energy was "arguably the biggest economic opportunity
for the region since the industrial revolution".
However, it is clear that other regions are also gearing up for
a slice of the multi-billion pound industry, for example the inward
investment agency Yorkshire Forward has been selling the case for
Hull and Grimsby. Although Aberdeen is far away from the main area
of wind farm development, it is known that the city is also positioning
itself to cash in on its existing oil and gas expertise.
The spokesman for Renewables East said it was vital that our region
"put down a big welcome mat" to actively woo wind farm
industries.
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