Germany's E.ON begins wind park as Centrica helps

Reuters
Published: December 19, 2008

LONDON: German utility E.ON has begun work on a new wind farm in northern Britain with the help of the world's first purpose-built wind farm construction vessel that has been leased out by rival utility Centrica .
The Resolution arrived in Belfast, northern Ireland, on December 18 and will set about installing the first of 60 turbine foundations and two substation foundations, E.ON said in a statement.
Each of the turbine's foundations weighs up to 280 tonnes -- the equivalent of around 70 fully-grown African elephants.
The Resolution, owned by British-based MPI, was the first to be built of only a handful of vessels capable of carrying out construction at what will be one of the world's largest offshore wind farms.
It has been chartered by Centrica, but the utility agreed to release the vessel, which will be returned to it by February next year, after a vessel being used by E.ON was damaged.

"Of course there is commercial benefit here, but it's not just about returns," said Alan Thompson, Centrica's head of renewables, in a statement.
"The government has just announced its intention to increase wind farm generation from two gigawatts to 33 gigawatts by 2020. If we are ever to get near that, we're going to need all the flexibility we can get and that includes arrangements like the one in place today."
More vessels are likely to be built in the future, but they cost tens of millions of pounds and it takes around three years to deliver them, Centrica said.
E.ON said the Resolution was a temporary replacement for the damaged vessel the Lisa A, which is undergoing repairs.
At 180 megawatts, Robin Rigg Wind Farm in the Solway Firth, off the coast of Scotland, will generate enough clean energy to power up to 117,000 homes and displace the emission of 200,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.
It is expected the 325 million pounds wind farm will be operational in the spring of 2009.
The Resolution has just completed foundations for Centrica's wind farms at Lynn and Inner Dowsing off the east coast, with a combined capacity of 180 megawatts.
Centrica is also expecting to begin work on another wind farm off the east coast and is waiting a government decision, expected in the first quarter of 2008, on whether it can go ahead.
(Reporting by Barbara Lewis; editing by James Jukwey)