Offshore wind power is one of the most exciting growth areas in new energy — and our extensive experience from the North Sea gives us a major advantage. Our first offshore wind farm will come on stream in 2011.

Britain is an especially fertile market for offshore wind power, where we’re already well established as a gas supplier. Soon, we’ll be supplying electricity as well.

The UK is facing substantial supply challenges, with several coal-fired and nuclear power stations being decommissioned due to old technology. At the same time, the EU has set clear requirements that the member states must increase their share of renewable energy.

The result is that Britain has set itself the most ambitious targets in Europe: by 2020, 15% of energy will come from renewable sources, and 33GW of energy will come from offshore wind. That’s nearly as much energy as Norway’s entire hydroelectric power portfolio.

Sheringham Shoal

In partnership with Norwegian utility Statkraft, we’re building one of the largest offshore wind farms in the UK, Sheringham Shoal, off the Norfolk coast. The farm will cover more than 35 square kilometres and consist of 88 wind turbines 80 metres high. The site was chosen for its high wind speeds and shallow water depths, low levels of fishing activity and location outside protected zones.

When Sheringham Shoal starts operating in 2011, it will generate an estimated 1.1 TWh annually, equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 220,000 British homes. It will also save an estimated half million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Dogger Bank

We are a member of the Forewind consortium of companies that aims to develop the vast Dogger Bank area of the North Sea.

Fully constructed, Dogger Bank could be the world’s largest wind power development with a targeted capacity of 9GW, meeting nearly 10% of the total electricity needs in the UK. Potentially, the area could have an installed capacity as high as 13GW.

Just before Christmas 2009, Forewind was awarded development rights for the area. Surveys and planning are now getting under way, and the first investment decisions are expected some time after 2014.

Due to the size of the area, the development would have to take place in phases. Dogger Bank covers nearly 9,000 square kilometres 150 kilometres off the Yorkshire coastline, where water depths range from 18-63 metres.

Forewind is a strong partnership of leading energy companies. As well as our own extensive experience offshore, we will be able to draw on the expertise of RWE npower renewables, Scottish and Southern Energy, and Statkraft.

Hywind

Hywind is the world’s first full scale floating wind turbine prototype, and is now undergoing trials off the coast of western Norway. Hywind’s unique floating cylinder design is based on the philosophy of utilising familiar technology from the wind power and offshore industries combined in a new way.

In September 2009, our Hywind prototype was anchored off the coast of western Norway for a two-year trial after several years of design and modelling. By year’s end, the turbine had successfully weathered several North Atlantic storms while still producing power at full capacity for the nearby island of Karmøy.

The ballasted vertical tubular structure resembles a spar buoy, and the initial trials have shown that the oscillations are smaller than predicted by model tests. Once the test turbine’s technological feasibility is shown, we intend to prove its commercial feasibility. We’re already looking for new demonstration sites.