DEVELOPERS have hailed a “major milestone” in a groundbreaking windfarm project off the coast of Scotland. The third and final Siemens Energy Offshore Transformer Module (OTM) is ready to leave the fabrication yard this weekend to sail to the Moray East offshore windfarm project, which is 22km from the Aberdeenshire coast, marking a significant step forward in the project’s development.
Herald 29th Aug 2020 read more »
The Nederlandse Kust (Noord) offshore wind site sits 18.5 km off the northern Netherlands coast. It is split into two parts. In total, it covers 125 km2. Kust (Noord) will contain 69 turbines with a capacity of 759 MW. (Some sources say 769 MW). The Siemens Gamesa turbines are 11 MW in size. Power output is expected to be at least 3.3 TWh per year. (Some reports omit the words ‘at least’ or say ‘about’). It is expected to be operational in 2023. The winning bid was announced on 28th July 2020. It will deliver part of its electricity to a hydrogen unit in the port of Rotterdam. The electrolyser is said to be sized at 200 MW. No subsidies are payable. The winning bidder was selected on the basis of qualitative factors. (‘A beauty contest’ in English jargon). I suspect that the government authority that awarded the Shell/Eneco consortium with rights to develop the area may have been swayed by the commitment to use part of the output to make hydrogen. The Netherlands plans to produce 16% of its electricity from offshore wind energy by 2023 and increase this to 40% by 2030. Total current electricity consumption is about 115 TWh a year.
Carbon Commentary 28th Aug 2020 read more »