OffshOre #2 | The Magazine 20
een other good news from the UK. The Crown Estate, responsible for the seas around Britain, announced a surprise early start to the third phase of offshore expansion and said that each of the next eleven sea areas would be assigned to a general contractor by the end of 2009. If everything goes according to plan, a further 7,000 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 25,000 MW will go into operation in the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2020. The estimated market volume is 100 billion pounds sterling or more than 10 billion euros per year on average. Projects are challenging – as in most German projects, the water at these third phase projects is more than 25 metres deep, and wind farms will often be situated dozens of miles from shore. UK fires the offshore imagination The UK has already overtaken pioneer Denmark in installed offshore capacity by implementing the second phase. The UK looks set to occupy this position for a long time to come. At the same time the government announced the launch of the third phase, it also made public that the tariff for offshore electricity would be increased in April 2009 (see table on feed-in tariffs for offshore power, page 35). As a result, and here authors of the most diverse studies and forecasts agree, in the decades ahead the UK will remain the world’s most important offshore market, and together with Germany will account for around 60 percent of the global market. These two countries are followed by the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Belgium. “The British government’s mammoth programme makes one thing very clear: the United Kingdom is clearly relying on offshore to achieve its ambitious national and European renewable energy goals,” says Fritz Vahrenholt, head of RWE Innogy in Essen, Germany. RWE also wants to “help shape [this market] as the leading wind farm operator in the UK” (see interview page 28). “The third bidding round in the UK plays a crucial role in the subsequent development of offshore wind energy,” agrees Gustl-Bernhard Friedl, who is in charge of Siemens’ offshore business. The German- Danish manufacturer anticipates slow but steady growth in the offshore market, with worldwide installation up from 1,050 MW in 2009 to 4,200 MW annually in 2014 (see illustration of Siemens offshore market expectations). Unlike in the UK, development in Germany was held up in 2008 because of many difficulties encountered regarding projects’ distance from the shore and water depths. For these projects to be profitable, they need to rely on the mass production of five-MW wind turbines and their foundations, and to improve installation logistics. The industry saw to these steps in 2009. The weather also did not help matters – a stormy autumn in 2008 scuppered many plans. On 19 September 2008, the same day that the last turbine was assembled at the Thornton Bank wind farm, work began on constructing the transformer station for Germany’s alpha ventus wind farm; the laying of cables to land had been largely completed. But construction work on alpha ventus itself, the building of foundations for the flagship project, had to be postponed until 2009 as weather conditions made it unsafe to work on the crane ship. There were even problems putting up the FINO 3 met mast, which was supposed to have been erected by October 2008 some 80 kilometres west of the island of Sylt. This was delayed until 2009 due to high swells. It is now finished and installers have learned their lessons; many businesses are currently developing plans and equipment that will allow installation even in rough seas. Other planners were thwarted by the financial crisis. Energiekontor’s Nordergründe wind farm, with 18 REpower five-MW turbines, could not be constructed as planned after banks failed to provide the loans they had promised. “We now want to build in 2010 instead of 2009,” said a spokesperson. Energiekontor will operate only a few of the turbines itself, and plans to sell off interests in the remaining ones. Indeed, the only offshore turbine erected in Germany in 2008 was the five-MW nearshore turbine installed by Bard Engineering off Hooksiel to the north of Wilhelmshaven. 2009: German projects pick up speed OffshOre #2 | The Magazine » The United Kingdom is clearly relying on offshore to achieve its renewable energy goals « Projects in Germany were finally underway early in 2009. Work is progressing in the Baltic Sea. Contracts for all equipment and supplies have been signed for the 52.5 MW Baltic I project run by EnBW and wpd, which will be installed in 2010. In the North Sea, six Multibrid and six REpower turbines, each boasting five Megawatt, are being erected in the alpha ventus project. Bard Engineering is beginning the first stage with the offshore substation Bard 1 in the project Bard Offshore 1 on 21