Forth Ports In Renewable Power Joint Venture

Forth Ports unveiled a renewable power joint venture with Scottish and Southern Energy and said it was seeing no impact on volumes from slowing economic growth.

The "Forth Energy" initiative will start with a £12 million wind energy project at Forth Ports-owned Port of Tilbury in Essex. Forth Ports chief executive Charles Hammond told The Scotsman one of the projects will probably include a series of biomass-burning power generation schemes in Leith, where Forth Ports has submitted planning applications for a series of nine new residential villages.

The renewable energy projects will help Forth Ports meet Edinburgh city council planning rules on new developments generating 20 per cent of their energy needs via renewable energy sources.

The new Forth Energy initiative is expected to create up to 200 jobs and will produce 150 to 200 megawatts of energy.Hammond said the initiative was a result of a study commissioned last year to look at how its assets, which includes seven UK commercial ports – Tilbury, Dundee on the Firth of Tay and Leith, Grangemouth, Rosyth, Methil and Burntisland on the Firth of Forth– could be exploited to produce renewable energy..."In the port business we are used to moving materials in bulk and storing them so there is a good fit with the core business," Hammond added. "For some time we have been examining how we can develop a renewable energy strategy."

Wind Farms Stalled By Planning

The Guardian reports that more than 200 proposed wind farms are still awaiting planning approval, despite the government's promise to fast-track such schemes.

At least 222 wind farms are awaiting the green light, with many delayed by up to five years, in spite of Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for major infrastructure projects to be speeded up in the planning system.

The development of E.ON's Humber Gateway project is one of the schemes facing ever-increasing delays. "When built, this wind farm will be one of the biggest in the UK and will play a vital role in the fight against climate change," said E.ON's project manager, Chris Sherrington. But the planning authorities are stuck, debating the effects on shipping routes despite the site having being chosen specifically to avoid interference with shipping and having full support from ABP, which owns Humber ports.

Britain is already struggling to meet the EU target of producing 20 per cent of its energy from renewable energy sources by 2020. However, the UK is struggling to hit even the reduced target of 15 per cent, with the current level standing at just two per cent.

Back in November 2007, Brown said: 'The government will do more to remove the planning and other obstacles that are currently holding renewables back.'

Ministers Wind Plan

John Hutton announced this week that up to 7,000 turbines could be installed off the UK's coastline in a bid to boost the production of wind energy 30-fold by 2020.

Speaking at a conference in Berlin, the Energy Secretary insisted that tough choices had to be made to effect the shift to low-carbon power sources."There is the potential, we believe, out there, using the resources that there are around the UK to generate maybe all of the electricity that households use from offshore wind sources....We should see whether we can maximise that potential because it's obviously in the nation's interest, in the world's interest, for us to make sure that more of our energy comes from clean sources."

The draft plan would allow companies to develop up to 25 GW of offshore wind, in addition to the 8 GW already planned, in a bid to power all of the UK's homes by 2020.

However most analysts, environmentalists and power firms remain sceptical about the targets leading the critics were the Renewable Energy Foundation who claim"The scales envisaged are quite unrealistic,uncontrollable fluctuations in the output of 33 GW of wind would, if unconstrained, almost certainly place exceptional technical demands on the indispensable conventional generators.

Greater Gabbard Secures Its Wind Turbines

Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds has signed a preliminary agreement to buy wind turbines from Siemens for an undisclosed sum for its wind farm off the British coast, the German group said on Thursday.The agreement is preliminary because Greater Gabbard, a joint venture between Ireland's Airtricity and U.S. based Fluor is still finalising their project finance.

"There is a global shortage of wind turbines and ever increasing competition to secure their supply. In this context, to have landed this agreement, is a major coup," Airtricity Chief Executive Eddie O'Connor said in the statement.

The deal followed UK government planning permission for a 500-megawatt wind farm off Suffolk, eastern England that could avoid emitting nearly 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by displacing fossil fuel-fired generation.

The wind turbines will be sited around the Inner Gabbard and Galloper sandbanks. It will be the first UK offshore wind farm to be built outside territorial waters and will provide electricity for more than 415,000 homes.

Construction of the project will commence in mid2009 with completion expected by the end of 2010.

Wind Farm Approval

The Government has given its approval to set up around 23 kilometers of wind farm off the coast in Suffolk, which will have the potential to supply power to nearly 415,000 homes.

The Greater Gabbard scheme, will be one of the largest in the country, supplying nearly 500 MW of electricity from 140 turbines and according to authorities, will help cut carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5 million tons a year, the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off the road.

Airtricity and Fluor, are the companies involved in developing the project, which in total will occupy some 150 square kilometers within the outer Thames Estuary wind farm area.

A government statement said the approval is given after a careful consideration of the possible impacts of the project on a range of environmental and other issues.Alistair Darling, secretary of state for trade and industry said the country needed more renewable energy as part of the mix of generation of electricity and the present project cuts emissions while powering homes.

Eddie O'Connor, chief executive officer of Airtricity, said the project is a major boon for the country. When the wind blows, free generation replaces generation that costs, he said, adding wind reduces risk because the cost of the power offered will be fixed in price and offers price benefits for the consumer.

Flour's managing director Patrick Flaherty said he hoped that the construction work of the project will start in time to support the government's 2010 renewables target. This is equivalent to taking 350,000 cars off the road.