Last Thursday, Britain’s new Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey opened the world’s biggest offshore wind farm in the Cumbrian coast of the UK. He strongly stated: “Britain has a lot to be proud of in our growing offshore wind sector. Our island’s tremendous natural resource, our research base and a proud history of engineering make this the No 1 destination for investment in offshore wind. And Walney is the newest, biggest and fastest-built jewel in that crown, providing clean power for hundreds of thousands of households.”
The Walney wind farm in the Irish Sea off Cumbria, consists of 102 Siemens wind turbines, which will provide 367MW energy. This is enough to power up to 320,000 households over a year. Obviously, UK government invests a lot of money towards this direction to boost offshore renewable usage and to prevail in wind power globally. To speak in numbers, $1.58 billion was spent in this huge project; a joint venture between DONG Energy (Danish company), Scottish and Southern Energy and a consortium of the Dutch pension fund PGGM and the energy investment fund Ampere Equity Fund (OPW).
Before we all get too excited and consider our energy problems as solved, we should step back a bit and give it a second thought. According to a study by engineers at Mott MacDonald Company, offshore wind costs twice as much as onshore turbines and significantly more than gas. However, many offshore wind farms are expected to be built in the next years, which will probably drop the prices in the future.
Every investment in renewable energy resources that reduces our fossil fuels dependency for our everyday needs, directly reflects to our environment’s sustainability; even at this cost under the present circumstances. Paraphrasing philosopher Plato: Sustainability (orig. morality), most of the times, is less profitable than unsustainability!
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Related Stories:
Ed Davey interviewed at Walney, world’s biggest offshore wind farm.
BBC news: Walney Offshore: World’s largest wind farm to open.
The Guardian: Ed Davey throws weight behind green energy by opening giant UK windfarm.