Share
Ellie Zolfagharifard
Senior Reporter
Energetic week ahead as world's largest wind farm gears up
Swedish energy group, Vattenfall, is gearing up to bring online the world’s largest wind farm off the Kent coast, as it begins the final stages of testing.
Once complete, the company estimates that the Thanet wind farm could generate enough electricity for 200,000 homes and will boost the UK’s offshore wind capacity by over 30 per cent.
The announcement follows a statement from the National Grid which claimed that at one point last week 10 per cent of the UK’s electricity came from windfarms.
But some areas of the energy industry believe that focus needs to be shifted towards other technologies, particularly nuclear, if the UK is to meet its goal of an 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.
As part of this drive, the EDF Energy UK Suppliers Forum will meet today to discuss future designs for nuclear installations. EDF initially plans to build four new UK EPR reactors in the UK, with the first two at Hinkley Point, and two more at Sizewell.
Meanwhile a separate meeting by the British Nuclear Medicine Society will take place to discuss the benefits of nuclear technology in healthcare.
According to report from the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), cutting-edge radiotherapy treatments are still not widely available in the UK, despite the government’s commitment to make cancer outcomes amongst the best in Europe.
Tomorrow, the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee are set to discuss their terms of reference after MPs last week asked the committee to probe allegations of journalists at the News of the World hacking the phones of public figures.
Wednesday will see an announcement made on the 2010 James Dyson Award finalists. Contenders for the award include a mobile seat for the elderly, a battery that helps cyclists uphill and a smell-free sports bag. Take a look at Siobhan Wagner’s analysis of the US and UK bicycle entries here.
Keeping with developments in energy this week, Climate Change secretary Chris Huhne will hold a one-off oral evidence session on Thursday to discuss issues such as the impact of spending cuts, the draft national policy statements, carbon-capture and new nuclear build.
View results 10 per page | 20 per page
Readers' comments (11)
Philip Baker | 13 Sep 2010 3:33 pm
The statement from the National Grid which claimed " that at one point last week 10 per cent of the UK's electricity came from wind farms ", may well be cheered by the emotional Green environmentalist, but for those of us who have a fuller technical understanding of the generation issue, this statement is a yellow card warning to the near pending disaster that awaits us in the next few years, if the UK does not get several major power generation schemes underway.
The Thanet wind farm scheme, if and when it reaches maximum generation, with all its wind mills rotating flat out, is only equivalent to around a 100 MW generator.
That is one tenth of one of to days main generators, who normally have the capacity up to 1000 MW .
Yes Thanet is a useful scheme, increasing existing wind schemes by a significant 30%, but on a nation wide comparison, its barely capable of feeding all the houses in the smallest county of Rutland, let alone their commercial and industrial needs.
Let's understand, that without 3 to 4 major power stations in the next 15 years, we all had better pray for the wind, as that's all we are going to have, unless common sense swiftly arrives at the existing stalemate energy generation policy in the UK .........
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
P Field | 13 Sep 2010 5:10 pm
With so much of our manufacturing industry now diverted to the far east, it seems very feasible for night time summer loads to be very low indeed allowing wind to do 10%
The little remaining night time industry is probably large process plant with their own power plants.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Martyn Reid | 13 Sep 2010 5:19 pm
Wind power is all very well, but is dependant on the wind, which can disappear at any time. The real answer is tidal power, which can be predicted for the next hundred years plus, and will give energy every day. There are many suitable sites that could be converted, the best one would be in the Thames, where it would not only provide energy, but also act as a Thames barrier to protect London, thus solving two problems at once.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 13 Sep 2010 9:06 pm
Thanet at full rated power is 300 MW, with some relatively small grid losses. I think the poster above is refering to capacity factor, which is the percentage of full rated power it will average *over the year* (and will be closer to 40% rather than 33%).
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Malcolm | 13 Sep 2010 9:10 pm
Phillip Baker, if you're going to claim to be an expert you could at least distinguish between design output and average output. We're making great strides with wind turbines, let's keep it up.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Matt | 13 Sep 2010 9:36 pm
(@Philip Baker - good words, I have hope)
Please read the excellent free text given by Prof. David MacKay in http://www.withouthotair.com/ where he uses "numbers not adjectives" to describe the role of renewable energy in fulfilling the UK's energy needs. It's very hard to view offshore wind as anything but a micro-scale contributor to our energy demand. Thankfully David is now advising Chris Huhne MP in his role at the DECC and perhaps the continuing distraction of novel renewable tech such as wind power may be quietly blown away.
Also see Saul Griffiths excellent lecture at the Long Now Foundation to get a global perspective on what we need to do to provide 16TW of energy to this planet in 25 years from now.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Reza | 14 Sep 2010 4:13 am
There are similar intentions to utilize the wind power in Iran too. A company is going to build a 500MW wind power plant in eastern Iran, see:
http://www.nirogah.com/portal/
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Doctor Mike | 23 Sep 2010 9:53 am
waste of money and time - better spent elsewhere than lining the pockets of developers. it is too much effort for too little gain - apart from the subsidy of course
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Uncle Scary Face | 24 Sep 2010 12:58 pm
I read all the above comments with interest. Clearly the UK already faces an energy crisis and our dependance on imported fuel and electricity will only increase... until we start to reduce our insatiable demand. The EU Climate Change Agreement rightly targets reductions to energy use within member states (80% by 2050), so IF this is achieved renewable generation will easily produce this - hopefully without the necessity for nuclear power. So the energy supply problem is (relatively) short term. I worry that, with so much noise made about new generation schemes, many of the brilliant innovations in energy efficiency will not receive sufficient financial support (ok subsidy) needed to bring them to market. I would like to see more support for British 'green' technology manufacturers.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Mike Ayres | 25 Oct 2010 4:28 pm
"capacity factor, which is the percentage of full rated power it will average *over the year* (and will be closer to 40% rather than 33%)."
Average capacity factor in the UK is 27%. This should be made clear at all times when power output of wind farms is quoted.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment