The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has granted planning consent for two new offshore wind farms off the north Norfolk coast. Race Bank and Dudgeon, which will be built by Centrica and Warwick Energy respectively, are Round 2 wind farms. Originally expected to receive planning consent last year, the delay will see the wind farms being built alongside a number of Round 3 projects.
Commenting on the new developments, Energy Minister Charles Hendry described their potential for creating‘significant investment and jobs’ as well as ‘considerable amounts of clean energy.’ Whilst announcing the planning consent, Mr Hendry also revealed that a third proposal, Centrica’s Docking Shoal wind farm, was turned down due to concerns about the effect on the sandwich tern, a local seabird.
Wind farm facts and figures
|
|
Race Bank |
Dudgeon |
|
Location |
North Norfolk/Lincs. Coast |
Cromer, Norfolk coast |
|
Cost |
£1.5 billion |
£1.5 billion |
|
Capacity |
580MW |
560MW |
|
No. of homes powered |
730,000 between both |
|
|
Turbines |
Around 100 |
100+ |
|
Owner/operator |
Centrica |
Warwick Energy |
|
Potential jobs |
Around 100 long term |
Around 100 long term |
Wilding says:‘We now have 6.6GW of consented offshore wind capacity in UK waters, and we’re well on the way to meeting our 2020 renewable energy target of 15%. The only drawback to the Race Bank and Dudgeon consents is the potential clash with Round 3 projects, which could cause a shortage of parts, services and expertise. However, this will hopefully be avoided through careful planning.’
Sources: BBC and Business Green
