Here With The Wind

New Ground 65
Summer 2003

How does the UK compare with the rest of Europe with regard to key environmental issues? Alison Hill kicks off our look at Europe and the UK by examining wind power.

Wind is the new power in the electricity market place. As energy crisis after crisis unfolds around the world, and amid dire warnings that the lights may go off, wind energy has been quietly consolidating its position as the generation technology of choice.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in Europe, where wind power has reinforced its leadership with another record year. The European market has grown an average of 35% per year over the past five years and the three wind "superpowers" of Germany, Spain and Denmark now have 12,836, 5,060 and 2,916 megawatts of installed capacity respectively.

Wind power meets 20% of Denmark's electricity needs, compared with just over 4% of the needs of the larger populations of Spain and Germany. Next in the league table come the Netherlands and Italy, neck and neck on approximately 800MW of wind power each. The UK, the country with the best wind resource in all Europe, does not as yet even feature in the top five, despite its large wind resources.

The rapid increase in the use of wind technology throughout Europe has meant that the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has had to revise its forecasts upwards three times in eight years. Europe's current total wind capacity of just under 25,000MW is now predicted to rise to 75,000MW by 2010. Of this total, 10,000MW should be deployed offshore.

This would mean that wind power would contribute about 5.5% of Europe's electricity, compared with just under 1% today. It would also mean that wind power would contribute a quarter of the European Union targets for renewable energy laid out in the Renewable Energy Directive. This directive stipulates that Europe should generate 22.1% of its electricity from renewables by 2010. EU member states have been left to decide how they will achieve this.

The UK has set up the Renewables Obligation, which requires electricity retailers to source increasing proportions of their supply from renewables, up to 10.4% by 2010. This is proving a strong impetus for change, most noticeably in the wind industry, where the technology is long established and already price competitive with conventional sources of generation. The wind sector also now has a better understanding of what is expected of it, as for the first time, the government has put numbers on the anticipated contribution of wind power to the UK's supply mix in 2010. New Energy Minister Stephen Timms is now on record with what the Department of Trade and Industry expects: "The UK wind industry will play a major part in delivering the government's renewable energy goals. Up to three quarters of all renewable energy is likely to be produced by wind power by 2010, which means around eight gigawatts of clean, green electricity," Timms said.

Given a currently installed base of 580MW of wind power in the UK, a country that until now has built a mere 55MW a year, this is a challenge, but one the industry is geared up to accept. The first steps towards the necessary 14-fold increase in deployment have already been taken. The installation of the first turbine at North Hoyle, the first of the UK's large-scale offshore wind farms to be constructed, is a milestone for the industry.

The UK's offshore wind resource is the envy of many countries. Studies estimate the generation potential at close on 1,000 terrawatt hours per year, equivalent to several times the UK's total current electricity consumption of 344TWH. Combined with the UK's existing world-class infrastructure and expertise gained in the offshore oil and gas industries, this is a real opportunity for the UK to become a world leader in the offshore industry.

The North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm, located 7.5km off the North Wales coast, is one of 17 seabed sites released for development by the Crown Estate in 2001, in what is now known as Round One of UK offshore wind farms. A further seven Round One sites already have planning consents and are due for construction between 2004 and 2006, while a further five sites are being considered for consent. Successful projects completed under Round One could realize 510 turbines with a combined capacity of 1.5GW.

Work is already progressing on the next phase of offshore wind, Round Two, which is to be developed in three strategic areas around the UK: the Thames Estuary, the Greater Wash and the North West. Launched in July by Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt, these sites will be far larger than previous ones, utilising the more powerful machines already being trialled by turbine manufacturers, and probably at greater distances from shore. While each Round One site was for a maximum of 30 turbines, there is no limit for Round Two and some seriously big schemes of up to 1GW in capacity are likely to be proposed. This greater scope of deployment has led to the DTI to forecast that as much as 6GW of new capacity could come from this next generation of offshore, which could power one in six UK households by 2010.

There can be no mistake that this is a clear signal of intent from government. Speaking at the launch of Round Two, Hewitt said: "We are serious about delivering on targets and offshore wind has potential to provide a significant proportion of the UK's energy needs. This announcement represents an important step towards meeting our goals. It will help the UK renewables industry to grow, building on our world leading expertise in offshore manufacturing, creating up to 30,000 new jobs in manufacturing, installation and maintenance, as the wind farms take shape."

No longer is the UK the poor relation of Europe: recent progress has created a palpable feeling of success for the future. This includes exponential increases in planning consents awarded, the introduction of supportive planning framework in the shape of Planning Policy Statement 22 and the commitment of government to move to a low-carbon economy, powered mainly by the wind.

Eyes are now turned to Glasgow in October, where the UK wind industry will gather for its annual conference and trade exhibition. Up for discussion is how the industry will overcome the challenges of meeting government's expectations for 2010. There is however also cause for celebration: this will be the 25th annual event for the British Wind Energy Association, and the outlook is positive for the next 25 years.

Alison Hill is Head of Communications at the British Wind Energy Association