LOCE Wind and Wave Energy Weblog

The web's first ocean and offshore wind energy weblog. Continuously renewed, like the ocean itself.

Sunday, September 21, 2003

World's Largest Windfarm Being Planned


There's a report here (9/20/03) on plans for the world's largest wind farm to be located in the UK. As the article reports:

London-based Wind Energy, is working on proposals to build a massive wind farm capable of generating 1000 megawatts, almost twice the size of the controversial 600MW wind farm planned for the Barvas Moor on the island of Lewis.
Under the plan, around 500 turbines would be sited on the Morvern and Ardnamurchan peninsulas and in the north of the island of Mull. Preliminary discussions have already taken place with local community councils, and so far the reaction has mainly been favourable.

Despite the company's optimism, the wind farm will face some obstacles in getting the power generated south to the main electricity market in England. According to the article:
“Part of the plan is a large extension of the National Grid. We are considering a submarine cable which will go along the Sound of Mull and up Loch Linnhe to Fort William. It will cost over £100m and it will also serve as a grid connection for any wave and tidal power generation on the west coast, which is the area with the best marine energy potential in Europe.Our cable could also link up with the cable from the Western Isles and also service the rest of the west coast."

And what is the feeling of the community where the project will be sited? This quote from the article sums it up best:

The feeling is that we would rather have windmills that we can see than CO2 that we can’t.

It will be interesting to continue to follow along to see whether this project is successfully developed.