Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited (GGOWL), an Airtricity and Fluor joint venture, received planning permission to build an offshore wind farm to be located 25km off the coast of Suffolk in the UK. GGOWL also received permission to connect the wind farm to the electricity grid via a substation at Sizewell from Suffolk Coastal District Council.
The planned wind farm will produce 500MW of electricity via 140 wind turbines. It will be the first UK offshore wind farm to be built outside territorial waters and will provide green electricity for more than 415,000 homes.
The east coast of England is a key area for offshore wind projects with approximately 6.5 GW of capacity currently planned out of a total of 10 GW for the whole of the UK.
Receipt of planning consent allows the joint venture to progress the project design and to structure the project financing arrangements as well as the power purchase agreements that are required to allow the project to achieve financial close which is scheduled for second half of 2007.
GGOWL is already focusing on pre-construction activities: Fluor has been appointed as Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor. The procurement process for turbines and other equipment has commenced, with offshore construction planned to commence in 2009.
Eddie O’Connor, Airtricity CEO said, “This is a great boon for the United Kingdom. Wind on such scale will bring strong economic and environmental benefits for the UK. Wind reduces risk because the cost of the power offered will be fixed in price and offers price benefits for the consumer. Such large scale offshore wind provide consistent power and will push down the prices for fossil fuels. This price decrease is caused by the diminishment in demand for fossil fuels, something we’ve seen frequently in Northern Europe. Greater Gabbard will save money as well as contributing to the amount of electricity generated from emissions free sources.”
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