East Anglia ONE on the horizon; wind balancing service launched

ScottishPower Renewables has made a final investment decision to construct its proposed East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm. When built, this will be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world, with a generating capacity of 714 MW

The decision signals that ScottishPower Renewables is fully committed to the development and construction of the project, and will now progress with the aim of the wind farm being operational by 2020. As well as creating up to 3,000 jobs during construction, East Anglia ONE will spend at least 50% of the total £2.5bn investment in the UK, says the company.

ScottishPower Renewables is committed to meeting the government’s cost reduction targets, and says that East Anglia ONE is the most cost efficient offshore wind farm ever to confirm construction. The price of £119/MWh was secured after a competitive auction process run by the government, and is lower than that for other offshore wind projects in construction elsewhere in the UK.

East Anglia ONE is the first of four wind farms that ScottishPower Renewables is planning to build off the East coast.

Meanwhile, DONG Energy has come up with a ‘Renewable Balancing Reserve’ service aimed to help balance its own generation at times when the wind doesn’t blow – it works by offsetting drops in wind strength with changes to demand from its business customers.

The company will invite customers to either turn down consumption or increase on-site generation production when the wind blows more or less than forecast, helping to keep the system balanced and reducing the need to call on conventional or more expensive generation sources to make up the gap.

As the operator of the largest offshore wind portfolio in the UK and a supplier to an increasing portfolio of business customers, DONG Energy says it has created the Renewable Balancing Reserve product to fulfil generation contracts in the most cost-effective way. The measure will create a new revenue stream by sharing the cost savings that result, says DONG.

·      A new report: the second annual Cost Reduction Monitoring Framework (CRMF), delivered by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult on behalf of the Offshore Wind Programme Board, has provided evidence that the cost of energy from offshore wind continued to fall through 2015 and remains on track to deliver the target of £100/MWh by 2020. It says that investment in turbine technology has delivered significant cost benefits, but that further reduction will need to come from the innovations in ‘balance of plant’, such as foundations, cables and substations.