How to cut new onshore wind costs

Scotland’s next generation of onshore wind projects could be at least 20% cheaper if Scottish and UK governments work with industry and regulators to remove a series of barriers, according to a new report from Scottish Renewables which suggests that industry could cut costs by more than £150mn a year. Onshore wind is already one of the lowest-cost forms of new electricity generation.

Savings would come from making a series of changes, including installing the latest wind turbines and extending the life of existing ones. The research, carried out by consultant Everoze, on behalf of Scottish Renewables, also found that introducing a more flexible way of connecting onshore wind projects to the grid, and reducing the amount developers have to pay to connect, could also save millions each year.

Researchers identified ten key areas that could provide a range of cost reductions for the onshore wind sector in Scotland, including:

• encouraging deployment of the latest turbine technology, including larger turbines;
• making the consenting process more coherent;
• developing guidance on how to maximise potential benefits from redeveloping, replanting and repowering existing wind farm sites;
• adopt new off-take arrangements, where power is sold to private end-users with no direct grid link; and
• deploying storage, allowing onshore wind to capture, and therefore use, more of the renewable energy resource.

Lindsay Roberts, Senior Policy Manager for Scottish Renewables, said: ‘The report sets out just how competitive onshore wind in Scotland can be, and shows that it makes no sense for the UK government to exclude the technology from long-term contracts for clean power. Without it, we will all be paying for more expensive alternatives.’

Meanwhile, work on the UK’s first offshore wind tower factory has started in Argyll. CS Wind UK’s base in Campbeltown, which employs 175 people, is set for a £27mn investment after its acquisition by South Korean manufacturer CS Wind Corporation in April. It is expected that the investment will create 160 new jobs at the factory.

CS Wind has factories in China, Vietnam and Canada, and has already manufactured more than 6,000 towers worldwide. The investment at Campbeltown will increase production volume at the existing onshore wind tower factory and allow for the fabrication of larger diameter towers for the offshore wind sector.