Exclusive data reveals developers are ploughing cash into UK wind farms

Wind turbines

As the UK cleans up the damage caused by Storm Imogen and its almost 100mph gales yesterday, developers are sinking money into wind farms to harness arguably the UK鈥檚 most abundant natural resource.

According to data compiled exclusively for 好色先生TV by Barbour ABI, 拢29bn of wind farms are planned in the UK that do not yet have contractors appointed. This includes the world鈥檚 largest offshore wind farm, Danish developer Dong Energy鈥檚 拢15bn Hornsea One off the coast of Yorkshire, .

The wind power sector is enjoying a surge of investment - the 拢29bn figure dwarfs the 拢12.3bn of contracts awarded on wind farm developments over the past five years, according to Barbour ABI.

Paul Glendinning, wind power expert and head of power networks at engineer WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, estimates wind turbines with a total generating capacity of 20 gigawatts (GW) are planned for the UK - equivalent to more than six Hinkley Point C nuclear power plants.

Glendinning said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e probably ahead of European competition, and even the world. We鈥檙e a world leader.鈥�

Explaining the attraction of the UK for wind farm projects, Glendinning said: 鈥淭he UK has the largest wind resource in Europe 鈥� it鈥檚 windy 鈥� particularly for large projects.

鈥淎lso the UK鈥檚 relatively low sea levels - compared to the Mediterranean for example - are a good thing when it comes to construction.鈥�

Glendinning said wind farms contributed 11% of the UK鈥檚 total electricity output last year 鈥� hitting 17% in a particularly windy December.

He said the wind sector was a 鈥済rowth area鈥� for WSP PB and the firm had a pipeline of work 鈥渃ertainly in excess of 10 years鈥� in the sector.

Last week Dong Energy made a positive final investment decision on Hornsea One, which will cover more than 400 square kilometres off the Yorkshire coast. It will have a capacity of 1.2GW, sufficient to power around one million homes.

Other developments in the pipeline include further 拢8bn and 拢7.2bn North Sea schemes off the coast of Teeside and East Anglia, and a 拢3.3bn wind farm in the Irish Sea.

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