by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
The United Kingdom, stands to become global center of excellence in offshore wind research
Announcement of four demonstration sites for new offshore wind technology will help attract manufacturers to UK
RenewableUK, the country’s leading renewable energy trade association has welcomed the announcement in early August 2010 by the Crown Estate of four demonstration sites for offshore wind technology, a decision it believes to be essential in attracting manufacturers to the UK and creating jobs.
The four test sites, two in England and two in Scotland, will allow manufacturers to test ‘next generation’ wind turbines that will drive down the cost of offshore wind and facilitate the expansion of the offshore industry.
Peter Madigan, Head of Offshore Renewables at RenewableUK said: “The UK is already a world-leader in terms of offshore wind deployed and the amount of projects in the pipeline. The proposed demonstration sites will position the UK as a centre of research excellence, encouraging manufacturers to base their operations near such research facilities.”
He commented: “The offshore wind sector has long been seen as a side-arm of onshore wind but today’s announcement is an important step towards offshore wind becoming a mature technology its own right, fulfilling its potential as a major electricity supplier of the future.”
Examples of the exciting new turbines that could be tested at the demonstration sites include:
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Clipper’s Britannia turbine that will have an installed capacity of 10MW and have a blade diameter of about 150m
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A two-bladed turbine design from 2-B Energy
RenewableUK is the trade and professional body for the UK wind and marine renewables industries. Formed in 1978, and with 620 corporate members, RenewableUK is the leading renewable energy trade association in the UK . Wind has been the world's fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue with falling costs of wind energy and the urgent international need to tackle CO2 emissions to prevent climate change.
For details of the Crown Estate’s announcement see here: http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/newscontent/92-offshore-wind-demonstration-sites.htm
The UK 's offshore wind power potential has been developed through a series of competitive leasing rounds by The Crown Estate, landlord and steward of the UK 's seabed. Rounds 1 and 2 provided a combined total of 8GW of potential capacity, whilst Round 3 awarded licenses for up to 32GW of electricity in January 2010. According to data for 2008, contained in the Digest of UK's Energy Statistics (published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change), each 1GW of installed offshore wind turbine capacity is sufficient to satisfy the annual electricity consumption of 684,000 UK households.
A recent report from RenewableUK entitled Building an Industry predicted that the UK offshore wind industry could create employment for 45,000 people. To view the report see here: http://www.bwea.com/pdf/offshore/offshore-wind_building-an-industry.pdf
The biggest problem, however, as I see it, still is that we way too much look at huge turbines off-shore and on the hillsides and such like. Instead every building must become a power station using wind and solar, with small vertical axis turbines instead of the other kind, primarily, and photo-voltaic cells. Only that way can we become a leader in renewable energy use, and we must do it as, as it would appear, we are not just headed for Peak Oil but apparently also for Peak Coal.
© 2010
