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ScottishPower
Renewables has announced a second boost for the renewable energy industry
in East Anglia. The day after the company officially submitted plans for
the East
Anglia THREE project, a thirty-year
deal has been agreed with the Port
of Lowestoft to act as a construction
and operations hub for the East
Anglia ONE offshore windfarm.
This was announced during the last
and largest event held for Offshore Wind week at teh Orbis Energy Centre,
Lowestoft (the home of 4C Offshore).
Following discussions with Associated British Ports, ScottishPower Renewables
will utilise the Port
of Lowestoft as its construction
management base for East
Anglia ONE, and also the main
Operations and Maintenance hub for the anticipated 30 year lifespan of
the windfarm. The agreement will be worth approximately £25 million
over the lifetime of the project.
Initial investment in the port will be used to establish the new operations
facility and to carry out upgrades and modifications to the port and surrounding
harbour area. Approximately 100 people will be employed full-time at the
port when East
Anglia ONE is completed, with
thousands of contractors and supply chain operators working from the site
every year and contributing substantially to the local economy.
This follows on from ScottishPower Renewables’ announcement on Wednesday
that plans for the East
Anglia THREE offshore windfarm
had been officially submitted to the Planning Directorate. The development
will require up to 172 wind turbines and covers an area of 305km2 in the
southern North Sea. Once completed, East
Anglia THREE could power the
annual electricity demands of more than 750,000 homes. If approved, it
is anticipated that onshore construction could begin in 2021, with offshore
work starting in 2022 and first power generation achieved in 2023.
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Jonathan Cole, Managing Director of Offshore
Wind at ScottishPower Renewables, said: “Today’s
announcement will help to make the East Anglia region the leading destination
for investment and job creation in the UK’s Offshore Wind Power industry.
A new vision document published this week highlighted the huge potential
of offshore wind power to contribute sustainable, cost-effective electricity
for the UK, as well as helping the economy to grow. What happens
in East Anglia will be fundamentally important in delivering this vision.
Off the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk billions of pounds of investments
are being made, and tens of thousands of job opportunities are being created.
In Lowestoft, we will manage construction activities and operate and maintain
our East Anglia ONE project for at least the next three decades. This will
support highly skilled, long-term jobs, both directly and across our supply
chain. Every year during the construction phase and operations phase of
the project, millions of pounds will be injected in to the local economy.
Our East Anglia THREE planning submission also highlights our continued
commitment to the region, and the tremendous potential in the East of England
to develop further large offshore wind projects. We have helped to drive
costs down in the industry, which increases the prospects of these major
infrastructure projects being delivered. We hope for a successful outcome
to our application, and we look forward to continue growing the offshore
wind industry in East Anglia.”
ABP Director Andrew Harston said: “ABP’s
Port of Lowestoft already supports around 1,200 jobs and contributes around
£80 million to the economy each year. This significant investment by ScottishPower
Renewables, with its potential to create long-term, skilled jobs and boost
the economy, is another example of how the port can make a valuable contribution
to the prosperity of the town and its hinterland.”
The programme of work at the port will begin in 2016, and modifications
will include dredging and construction of new pontoon facilities, site
preparation and construction of onshore buildings including offices, warehouses,
workshops and storage areas. In addition a new state-of-the-art operations
and maintenance control building will be constructed between 2018 and 2020.
East
Anglia ONE
will see around 102 wind turbines installed in the southern North Sea,
approx. 26 miles off the coast. The overall investment will be in the region
of £2 billion, and the project is planned to meet the annual electricity
demands of around 500,000 homes.
Construction is planned to commence in 2017, with the first turbines installed
by 2019, and hopes that the project will be fully operational during 2020.
East Anglia ONE Offshore
Windfarm project is likely to include:
- Offshore wind turbines
and foundations (102 wind turbines to provide an installed capacity of
714 megawatts).
- An offshore substation
platform and its foundation to collect the electricity from the turbines
and transform it to a form suitable for transfer to shore.
- Two seabed export cables,
each around 73 km in length, to transfer the electricity to shore.
- A landfall site with
onshore transition pits to connect the offshore and onshore cables.
- Up to six onshore underground
cables, each of around 37 km in length, to transfer the electricity from
landfall to an onshore converter station.
- Up to eight cable ducts
for two future East Anglia projects to connect into Bramford Substation.
This could limit the impact of future construction operations as cables
for these future projects would be pulled through the pre-laid ducts.
- An onshore substation
adjacent to the existing substation at Bramford, Suffolk, to connect the
offshore windfarm to the National Grid.
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