Linking offshore wind farms to grid to cost £10bn – and public will pay

Published Date: 19 December 2008
By Jenny Haworth
Environment Correspondent

IT WILL cost more than £10 billion to build the infrastructure needed to connect offshore wind farms around the UK to the electricity grid, a new report reveals.
The research investigated the options for building a network of cables to transport electricity from offshore sites to areas of demand on shore. The study, commissioned by the Crown Estate, which owns the seabed, said the cost of connecting nine offshore areas identified as potential sites for wind farms would be £10.4 billion. Two of the areas are off Scotland – in the Firth of Forth and the Moray Firth. The cost of building grid connectors to those two alone is estimated at £343 million.Most of the other sites are likely to be even more costly, according to the study by Senergy Econnect and National Grid. This is because they are larger and further offshore. These include Dogger Bank, a site about 125 miles off the Northumberland coast, which will cost £5.9 billion to connect.Opponents of offshore wind argue that it is too expensive to be viable. Those in favour say the cost has to be met to provide renewable energy needed to tackle climate change and provide a secure supply.The government aims to build 25 giga- watts of offshore wind farms – requiring about 700 turbines – to help meet the target of 15 per cent of energy being generated from renewables by 2020.Danielle Lane, development manager at the Crown Estate, said the cost was still a "relatively small" amount compared to the overall cost estimated of bringing on stream 25 gigawatts of wind power, which has been calculated at £80 billion.A spokeswoman for the Crown Estate added: "It is a lot of money. It's a big challenge to deliver the government's target for renewable energy generation."The infrastructure needs to be put in place if we are to deliver government targets, and obviously we are committed to working with them to deliver those targets."Jason Ormiston, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, the industry body, said: "We need to look at the long-term benefits in terms of tackling climate change, and we also need to compare it to the anticipated cost of fossil fuel in the next ten to 20 to 30 years."Looking at the oil price by 2020, most commentators say it's likely to be higher than today. We are talking about value."If we want to capture that potential, whether it's offshore wind, wave and tidal, or even island renewables, we have to think about how to connect it to the market."He acknowledged that some of the cost would be footed by members of the public paying their electricity bills. "We have to accept that there will be a cost. However, if we have a wide range of portfolios, including both renewables and conventional generation, what you find is that it depresses the cost of electricity."IN NUMBERSThe cost of connecting the nine areas identified as potential sites for offshore wind development around the UK, known as the Round 3 zones:Moray Firth: £193 millionFirth of Forth: £150 millionDogger Bank and Hornsea, off the coast of Northumberland: £5.9 billionNorfolk, off east coast of England: £1.7 billionHastings, off south coast of England: £184 millionWest Isle of Wight: £175 millionBristol Channel: £430 millionIrish Sea: £1.6 billionTotal cost: £10.4