www.businessweek.com
8 Apr 2013
London Array, the world's largest operating wind farm at sea, set the last of its 175 turbines whirling as backers E.ON SE, DONG Energy A/S and Masdar Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co, seek to cut costs by building at scale. All of the Siemens AG (SIE) turbines are now exporting power to the U.K, grid, the companies said today in a statement. The 630 MW facility off southeast England will generate enough electricity for almost half a million homes a year.
Britain, the largest market for marine wind farms, is working to reduce the cost of the technology that's as much as double the expense of coal-fired power generation. The country has a target to get 30% of its electricity from renewable sources by the end of the decade, up from almost 12% now. The current cost of offshore wind is about 160 euros ($208) a MW, according to Fredericia, Denmark-based DONG Energy, which owns 50% of London Array. E.ON has 30% and Masdar 20%.
"As we now look to our pipeline of future projects, DONG Energy is determined to drive down the costs of our offshore wind farms to 100 euros per MW for projects we'll be sanctioning in 2020", Benj Sykes, country manager for DONG Energy's U.K, wind business, said today. Britain has 3,300 MWs of installed offshore wind capacity, more than the rest of the world combined. It plans to reach 18,000 MWs by the end of the decade. London Array is about 20 km (12 miles) off the coasts of Kent and Essex. The plant's owners are studying an expansion of the site to raise capacity to 870 MWs.
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