Repowering onshore wind farms for city consumption
As we near our large infrastructure and energy forum this June at City Hall, London, we are reporting on the current government moves towards energy transformation. This post highlights a new report on wind turbines and the prospect of a new electricity plant on Teesside.
RenewableUK is warning that new onshore wind turbines are needed to replace older wind farms if the UK is to secure enough low-cost power capacity to meet carbon targets.
In a new report, it describes how more than 8 gigawatts (GW) of onshore wind - which currently generates nearly a fifth of the UK's entire renewable power output - could be retired over the next two decades, and that new policies are needed to support replacing, or repowering these older onshore wind farms.
The report 'Onshore Wind: The UK's Next Generation' makes the case that replacing older turbines with more efficient models means that fewer turbines would be installed than are currently operating at each site. It says that the UK already faces a low-carbon electricity generation gap of up to 18% of the country's current total electricity demand by 2030, according to the Government's advisory body the Committee on Climate Change (CCC)
Under the report's 'optimum scenario' 12GW of replacement onshore wind capacity could be installed, which would help to fill the energy gap by powering 8 million homes a year and contribute to climate targets.
'Upgrading our infrastructure with modern onshore turbines is good for consumers, as onshore wind is the cheapest form of new electricity available, and brings investment to communities around the UK'. stated RenewableUK's Deputy Chief Executive Emma Pinchbeck.
Meanwhile a new power plant on Teesside has been given a development consent order by Business Secretary Greg Clark, which is set to generate up to 1,700 megawatts of electricity. Carbon capture equipment and provision of combined heat and power is also a potential to be sited on land in the development.
This is considered as nationally important infrastructure and comes a year after the Mayor of Middlesbrough, David Budd, spoke at our first City Hall, London forum about future plans for energy transformation in the city and region.