British Gas parent starts building 180-MW offshore wind farm
Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, has started construction on an offshore wind farm development equal in size to the largest in the UK by making a major investment in offshore wind turbines at its Lynn and Inner Dowsing sites in the Greater Wash off the Lincolnshire coast in eastern England, the company said March 5. Centrica has a contract with Siemens Power Generation to supply 54 3.6-MW turbines for the 180-MW development, enabling a range of other related contracts to progress. The project is expected to cost about £300 million ($584 million).
Construction work is to start for the offshore site, four miles off the coast, in spring 2007, with onshore work to connect the power generation cable in Lincolnshire already ongoing. The project, which will be capable of supplying electricity to around 130,000 homes and will save an estimated 500,000 metric tons of CO2 every year compared with fossil-fuel combustion, is scheduled for completion by end-2008.
The company is also a 50% partner in Barrow Offshore Wind, which is the same size as the Lynn and Inner Dowsing site. In addition, the company applied in January for planning consent to develop the 250-MW Lincs project, also in the Greater Wash.
Centrica has also said it would become a 50% partner in the onshore Braes of Doune wind farm in central Scotland, which recently generated its first power, taking the UK's total installed wind capacity above 2000 MW. Braes of Doune is currently in its commissioning phase, with completion expected during spring 2007.