Windfarm extension work starts next week

Vattenfall is poised to start work on a £165m extension to the Kentish Flats offshore wind farm, which will see 15 new turbines installed off the Kent coast by the end of next year. The Swedish utility today confirmed it would start offshore construction work next week on the latest phase of the development, preparing the seabed to lay 30 kilometres of cables from the wind farm to the shore in Herne Bay.

Once complete, the project is expected to increase the current capacity of the 90MW Kentish Flats offshore wind farm by more than 50 per cent to a total of 139.5MW. Matthew Green, Vattenfall project director for the construction of Kentish Flats Extension said:

"Kentish Flats Extension was consented in spring 2013 and since then we have been planning, organising and contracting. We're now ready to go and by this time next year we plan to be generating low carbon power from all 15 wind turbines. Building an offshore wind farm is no easy task; that is why it is one of the most exciting engineering challenges around today."

The company plans to start installing foundations in spring 2015, and will then install each of the Vestas 3.3MW wind turbines by the end of July.

The announcement represents a boost to an offshore wind industry that has been hit in recent weeks by warnings that a number of proposed projects are "grinding to a halt" amid concerns over the transition from the government's current subsidy regime to its new support mechanism.

Business Green 15th Oct 2014

How to build a windfarm

Here's an excellent little piece from the BBC, explaining how windfarms happen - it's not nearly as easy as you might think. It's worth zooming in on The Workers in the first picture, just to get a clear idea of just how BIG these turbines are... Click to see more.

Windfarm extension: Vattenfall says...

Kentish Flats Extension

Vattenfall has started a discussion and consultation with the local community, local authorities and statutory consultees regarding the extension of Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm. It would like to extend the 30-turbine scheme by between 10 and 17 turbines and if 3 megawatt (MW) turbines are used this would give an additional installed total capacity of between 30 and 51MW.

If consented and built Vattenfall expects the extension to generate between 90,000 megawatt hours and just over 150,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of green electricity every year, which is equivalent to the total annual electricity needs of between 20,000 UK households and 35,000 UK households*.

If extended, Kentish Flats, with between 120 and 141MW total installed capacity would be expected to generate between 350,00MWh and just over 430,000MWh of green electricity every year, which is equivalent to the total annual electricity needs of between 82,000 UK households and 96,000 UK households.

Due to its size the proposal will be considered and consented by the Infrastructure Planning Commission following an extensive community consultation with the people of Kent. Discussions with the IPC have already taken place and if you would like to find out more about the consultation process please visit:
IPC- Kentish Flats extension - Pre-application (new window)
IPC - planning commission (new window)

The zone that Vattenfall is considering to develop the extension in is more than 7km from shore and covers nearly 8 sq km. More information will follow shortly about Vattenfall's plans, the community consultation and how the public can effectively engage with Vattenfall ahead of a planning application sometime in 2011.

In May this year Vattenfall was offered the opportunity to extend both Kentish Flats and Thanet Offshore Wind Farms by The Crown Estate, which leases the seabed on behalf of the UK Government to wind farm developers like Vattenfall. Vattenfall assessed the feasibility of both projects and has decided to seek consent from the IPC for an extension to Kentish Flats only.

The Crown Estate (new window)

The 90MW Kentish Flats has been generating green electricity since 2005. Find out more about this project by visiting:
Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm (www.vattenfall.com, new window)

*This is calculated in the following way:
Number of hours in the year: 8760
Installed capacity: 30 to 51MW
Average industry capacity factor for offshore wind: 35%
Average annual UK household electricity consumption: 4,478 kilowatt hours (kWh)
For example: (8760 x 30 x 35%) x 1000 = 91,980,000kWh divided by 4,478 = 20,540 homes.

Windfarm extension: your opinion

The Vattenfall roadshow came to town, well the King's Hall, to tell all-comers about the proposed extra turbines at the Kentish Flats windfarm, 5 miles off the Herne Bay coast.

They lease the seabed from the Crown Estate, and their lease is measured in megawatts (MW) of electricity output. The proposed extension permits 51MW of production. If they install turbines that are the same size as the current ones, they will need 17 new turbines. Their planning application would allow then to install bigger turbines, but there would have to be fewer of them, to stay within the 51MW limit.

The Vattenfall guy I spoke to said that Vattenfall were just keeping their options open as to what kind/size of turbine to install when they start construction - in 2014, according to the plan. I assume their eventual decision will be guided by profit.

See, print or download a copy of the Public Opinion Survey here. Or fill it in online at Vattenfall's website here.

Windfarm extension consultation

Vattenfall is in the process of putting together an application to add up to 17 wind turbines to the existing 30 turbines at the five-year old Kentish Flats wind farm.  It’s really important that the community and all those with an interest in our proposal to extend Kentish Flats get involved and tell us what they think.

From 31 January until 4 March 2011 Vattenfall is conducting a community consultation regarding the proposed extension which is located off the coast near Herne Bay and Whitstable.

There will be two public consultation events in February in Herne Bay and Whitstable and we encourage as many people as possible to come along:

Wednesday 23 February 2pm – 8pm, Kings Hall, Beacon Hill, Herne Bay
Thursday 24 February 2pm – 8pm, Whitstable Castle, Tower Hill, Whitstable

Windfarm extension is planned

HB Times 21st Oct 2010

Windfarm extension

HB Gazette 14th Oct 2010

Stuck in the mud

More turbines

The Crown Estate gives the go-ahead for Kentish Flats and Thanet Offshore windfarms to expand by 50%

The agency that controls the UK sea bed, the Crown Estate, today announced that it has agreed to extend the first and second wave of offshore wind farms to provide more than 2GW of additional capacity, enough to power 1.4 million extra homes. The organisation said it has authorised the extension of five existing offshore wind farms that combined could provide an additional 1.7GW of capacity, and had also approved the expansion of two other planned projects in order to provide an extra 340MW of capacity. The Crown Estate said that formal agreements with the three developers who run the existing wind farms are expected in the coming weeks. Rob Hastings, The Crown Estate's director of the marine estate, said in a statement that the expanded projects highlighted the growing confidence among offshore wind developers:

"This 2GW has been driven by developers' appetite and will increase the total potential 2020 installed capacity to 48 GW. It is another positive step in the maturing of the offshore wind industry and will significantly support the growth of the supply chain as it adds further to the pipeline of construction projects."

His comments were echoed by Maria McCaffery, chief executive of trade association RenewableUK, who hailed the announcement as:

"Definitive and positive evidence of the environmental and commercial viability of existing offshore projects. The site extensions come as a direct consequence of the UK’s world beating offshore wind farms showing that, after a successful start, they have further potential for growth. It is clear that developers are confident projects will continue to deliver and we welcome The Crown Estate's timely action in ensuring that this happens."

The U.K. in 2008 overtook Denmark to become the leading nation in installed offshore wind power, and last month reached 1 gigawatt of generating capacity. The three main political parties vying for power following last week’s general election have all said they plan to promote the industry as the U.K. strives to attain 15 percent of energy from renewables by 2015.

Kentish Flats is a 90MW (megawatt) wind farm off Whitstable and has been generating power since 2005. Along the coast, Vattenfall will complete construction of Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, which at 300MW, will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world - at least until the planned London Array project is completed. Vattenfall’s Kentish Flats and Thanet sites will be expanded as the Swedish company has won permits for an extra 198MW of capacity.

Ole Bigum Nielsen, head of Offshore Projects at Vattenfall Wind Power in the UK said:

"Vattenfall is pleased to have reached this important stage in the negotiations to extend Kentish Flats and Thanet offshore wind farms. The two existing projects that we own off the Kent coast are making a substantial contribution to the Kent economy and are going some way to helping deliver British climate change targets. Vattenfall's vision is to make electricity clean by 2050."

Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Tony Bosworth said:

"This is another significant step forward along the path to a greener, safer future. The UK's renewable energy potential is huge - maximising it would slash emissions, increase energy security and generate tens of thousands of jobs. All the major political parties agree on the need to build a low-carbon economy - urgent measures to boost green energy must be a top priority for whoever forms the next government."

London Array connects to Thanet

The world’s largest wind farm, to be built off the coast of Thanet, will bring hundreds of new jobs to the Isle of Thanet. The team behind the London Array project has chosen Ramsgate port as the location for their new 1,800sq m operations and maintenance headquarters. The move to the two-storey centre means employment for 20 office staff and 70 technicians. If approved, the building will also be used as warehouse space for storing parts for the 275 wind turbines.

The project is the second of its kind to come to the isle following the Thanet Offshore Windfarm currently being built off the coast of Broadstairs. Construction and maintenance of the Array centre is also expected to generate up to 200 jobs through extra trade for isle businesses and workers such as taxi drivers, hotels, pubs and fuel suppliers. Thanet council leader Sandy Ezekiel said:

“London Array is compiling a directory of local firms that can work with contractors. We stand to gain an awful lot from the project.”

A launch party for the directory is expected to take place in the next six weeks. During a private meeting with councillors in Cliffsend last week, London Array project director Richard Rigg said the company was in talks with Thanet College to introduce a series of specialised training courses aimed at recruiting young talent from the isle. It is believed these courses will be in mechanical and electrical engineering. Cllr Ezekiel, who was at the meeting, said:

“We are pushing Thanet forward as a hub for renewable energy. Construction of Thanet Offshore Windfarm is almost complete and London Array Thanet is very much at the forefront of renewable energy.”

London Array is made up of a consortium of Dong Energy, which has built half the world’s wind farms; E.ON, a leading power and gas company; and Masdar Initiative, which is Abu Dhabi’s leading investor in renewable energy. When complete, the £2billion project will sit to the north of the smaller Thanet Offshore Windfarm. Mayor of Ramsgate David Green said:

“It’s early days but it seems very positive. A lot of the deal has yet to be completed, however, it is good news they identified a site here in Ramsgate.”

London Array will also build a large floating pontoon creating mooring space for six, 12-person vessels.

thisiskent.co.uk 20th Mar 2010

Where the Wind Farms are

It's easy to get mixed up between wind farms, what with them springing up like huge marine mushrooms around the coast of Kent. So here's a map. The Kentish Flats wind farm is an array of 30 turbines arranged in a 5x6 diamond, about 5 miles north of Herne Bay. The London Array, about 30 miles north-east of Herne Bay and occasionally visible, is under construction - 50 turbines up and running when I last looked. This will be the world's largest wind farm when completed, unless someone beats to them to the finishing line presumably. The Thanet Offshore Windfarm off Broadstairs is apparently nearing completion.

click it to big it

Windfarm info

Trips to the wind farm are available with Bayblast. For more information: Tel: 01227 373372 or visit www.bayblast.co.uk

The Kentish Flats wind farm, off of Herne Bay is a key element of the British Government's commitment to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide seeking to reverse the trends of climate change. The wind farm is arranged in a regular grid of five east-west rows each of six turbines, sited in an area of 10 km². The spacing between each turbine and rows of turbines is be 700 metres. The nearest of them is about 8km (5 miles) offshore.

The wind farm comprises 30 efficient wind turbines capable of producing up to 3 MW of electricity each, so that the total output of the wind farm could be up to 90 MW. The offshore wind farm has set a dual record: the 30 turbine project was the largest wind turbine so far installed in the UK, and the farm was the largest wind farm in the UK, at 90 MW rated capacity, at the erection time.

Gale's View: London Array

That contracts have been signed for the construction of the London Array windfarm in the Thames Estuary is good news. Whatever your view of global warming - and I subscribe to the view that even if some of the science is a bit dodgy it is much, much better to be safe than sorry - it is clear that unless we take action now to invest in and harness renewable energy then our children and our grandchildren are going to find the lights going out in their hospitals and their schools and their homes.

There may be enough coal in the hills of West Virginia to power the United States for the next two zillion years but that is hardly a responsible or an acceptable way forward if we are going to save what is becoming an increasingly fragile planet. There is likely to be no silver bullet, no one single source that will supply our energy needs for the future.  We shall require a new generation of nuclear power stations and we need to get on with the building of them.  We will need 100% carbon capture coal-fired power stations and we need to accelerate the development of that technology as well.

But we also need to use what God has given us in the form of the wind and the tides and that is just one reason why Laura Sandys under-reported Marine Energy Summit, held recently in East Kent, was so important.  These will be the technologies of the future and our County can and should be taking a lead in their development. London Array will, when complete, be the largest windfarm in the world.  It will generate enough energy from wind to power all of the homes in an area the size of one quarter of Greater London and in so doing it will displace the emission of 1.9 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide every year.

London Array will also create jobs. While too many of the large contracts have, because UK Ltd missed the boat, already been awarded to other European Countries, there will be other jobs in construction and long-term maintenance and servicing that can benefit the economy of East Kent and it is vital that Members of Parliament, the County Council and the City and District Councils continue to work together to ensure that the consortium awards those contracts locally.

And talking of wind energy I notice that some of the hot air that emerged from the Chancellor’s Pre-budget report promised tax concessions for those who generate energy domestically and supply the surplus to the grid. I have one constituent (living in Birchington) who has been waiting patiently for many months to install a wind generator.  He cannot do so because the same government that is offering incentives has still to issue the necessary planning regulations to cover the domestic installation of wind generators!  Perhaps, around that Cabinet table, they might start talking to each other!

Roger Gale M.P.  (December 23rd 2009)