Offshore wind farms for Scottish and Irish waters Developments at several propos ...

Offshore wind farms for Scottish and Irish waters Developments at several proposed offshore and onshore wind farms continue offshore in the Irish Sea and both on and offshore Scotland. First, DONG Energy and ScottishPower Renewables have decided to go ahead with the construction of the West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea in a 50/50-partnership. The total cost of construction will be up to £1.6bn, which includes the cost to construct the offshore transmission assets. When the wind farm goes into operation, these assets will be sold to an offshore transmission operator, selected by Ofgem, and the costs of the transmission assets will be returned. West of Duddon Sands will comprise 108 Siemens 3.6 MW turbines and have a total generating capacity of 389 MW, making it among the largest offshore wind farms in the world at the time of commissioning in 2014. Meanwhile, plans for a new partnership between two European energy companies to develop up to 2.4 GW of offshore wind projects in Scottish waters has been welcomed by Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond. Spain's largest oil company, Repsol and Portugal's EDP Renováveis (EDPR) confirmed plans for a joint venture following the Spanish company's purchase of SeaEnergy Renewables Ltd (SERL) - the offshore wind unit of Aberdeen-based SeaEnergy Plc. Moving onshore, the first turbine at the Clyde onshore wind farm being constructed in South Lanarkshire by Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has been energised and exported electricity to the national grid for the first time in June. The first of the wind farm's three sections (South, 130 MW) should be completed around November and the wind farm as a whole should be completed in 2012. On completion, the Clyde wind farm will comprise 152 turbines and will have a total installed capacity of 350 MW. Last, Norway’s Statkraft is to finance and construct Baillie Wind Farm in Scotland to be completed in 2013 and with a generating capacity up to 52 MW.