Gunfleet Sands III Hosts Next Generation Offshore Wind Turbines

September 17th, 2013 by Joshua S Hill

The British Energy Minister, Greg Barker, opened the Gunfleet Sands III offshore wind farm last Thursday, the latest extension on the Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm, and the first demonstration in UK waters of the next generation of offshore wind turbines.

Location of Gunfleet Sands
Image Credit: DONG Energy

Located 7 kilometres off Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, Gunfleet Sands was a 172 MW offshore wind farm, home to 48 wind turbines installed by DONG Energy and constructed by Siemens Wind Power.

However, the two new turbines to be installed — again made by Siemens and installed by DONG — are specifically designed to be used at sea, and are billed as having the potential to “significantly cut the cost of producing renewable energy from offshore wind.”

This may sound strange, but the reality is that a large amount of offshore turbines currently installed around the UK coastline are actually variations of onshore turbines, repurposed out to sea. Given this, the new purpose-built offshore wind turbines have every opportunity to build on their predecessors; to be more cost effective as well as being more efficient.

“The Coalition [Government] is driving huge new investment to deliver both affordable bills and cleaner energy for consumers,” said Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker. “This includes an important role for offshore wind.”

“Dong Energy’s Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm is an excellent and innovative example. It’s helping the country take another step towards a clean, secure energy future while helping to support local jobs.”

Writing on the UK Government’s website, the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) are naturally proud of their accomplishments.

The offshore wind industry now provides clean energy to 2.3 million homes each year in the UK. Since 2010 DECC has recorded private sector announcements that could see over £29 billion of investment in renewables in the UK. This has the potential to support around 30,000 jobs across the country.

DONG Energy has little information regarding the latest addition to Gunfleet Sands, though they do point to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that was conducted in lieu of the redeveloping necessary for Gunfleet Sands III, which thankfully provides a bit more information on the planned development.

The Non-Technical Summary (NTS) of the Environmental Statement (ES) notes that the entire Gunfleet Sands wind farm is located “immediately adjacent to a sandbank known as Gunfleet Sands.” Gunfleet Sands III will be “located just off the southern flank of the sandbank,” immediately south-east to the existing Gunfleet Sands I and II farms.

“The inauguration of this demonstration project marks an important milestone for DONG Energy in the UK,” said Benj Sykes, DONG Energy Wind Power’s UK Country Manager. “We are the market leader for a reason; we are using the latest technology to push the boundaries of the industry forward and we continue to remain committed to playing a central role in ensuring the offshore wind industry in this country achieves its full potential.”

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Tags: Clacton-on-Sea, demonstration project, Essex, Gunfleet Sands, Gunfleet Sands I, Gunfleet Sands II, Gunfleet Sands III, UK

About the Author

Joshua S Hill I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

sean

what’s the LCOE of offshore wind these days? (obviously varies with the site, but for example in this case, do we have any idea of where the cost is at? how much more to go offshore?)
- Bob_Wallace
  
  At this point, in the US at least, it’s best not to ask that question. First turbines/farms will be very expensive. We have zero infrastructure or experience.
  
  In Europe the cost of offshore seems to be around 20c/kWh. But they’re fairly new in this field as well.
  
  Estimates for the Cape Cod project were running just under 20c/kWh.
  
  Onshore in the US has dropped from around 38c to 6c over 30 years. Offshore probably won’t get that cheap because installation and maintenance costs will be higher. But I’d bet cost drop closer to a dime than stay where they are.
  
  It may turn out that second generation floaters will be competitive with onshore. We’ll have the cables and harbor facilities in place. We’ll be able to build the towers under ideal conditions and tow them into place in good weather. Offshore turbines are likely to be so large that we’ll service them via helicopter.
  
  Then when you add in the extra hours of wind and having a lot of wind during peak demand hours, the math will look better.