Feature 3 | ENVIRONMENT AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
to 240,000 homes, increasing the UK’s is limited and the bulk of prospects build a 150MW wind farm comprising
total offshore wind power capacity by confined to two manufacturers 30 turbines, sited 9.5km from Walney
30% and bringing it closer to leading supplying 3-3.6MW turbines. They Island, Cumbria.
nation Denmark’s wind power output. also predict that the supply of 5MW When fully constructed Ormonde
Meanwhile, a £240 million project turbines will remain limited. will have the capability to produce
from MPI Offshore will result in the Douglas-Westwood also anticipate up to 150MW of electricity from its
launch of two specialist offshore wind that the market for turbine installation dedicated offshore wind farm of 30
turbine installation ships from Teesport will be ‘constrained’ around 2011-12. 5MW turbines, and during periods
and create at least 100 crew jobs and Given that new-build order time for of light winds the three gas turbines
thousands within the whole supply vessels is around 3-4 years; this does fuelled from two adjacent gas fields will
chain in the process. not paint a very positive picture for generate a total of 90MW of electricity.
The vessels, MPI Adventure and MV wind energy installations. The sub-sea electricity export cable will
Discovery will join MV Resolution, cross Morecambe Bay with a landfall at
and will be capable of installing some Heysham. The Ormonde Project will
of the largest offshore wind turbines “These wind farms be able to supply the equivalent of half
in the world. The new vessels will be of Cumbria’s domestic load, generating
operational from 2011. MPI Offshore,
demonstrate
enough electricity to power in excess of
part of the Dutch-owned MPI Holdings 111,000 homes. First energy output is
group, currently runs the only vessel of
our commitment
scheduled for 2011.
its kind in the UK. UK energy secretary John Hutton
Construction of the 35m vessels
to dramatically
remarked: “These wind farms
will take place in China and mainland
Europe in April 2009. Once complete
increase the
demonstrate our commitment to
dramatically increase the amount of
each vessel will be capable of tunnelling
18-20m into the sea-bed to create
amount of energy
energy we generate from renewable
sources, helping to cut carbon
foundations for turbines with a tip
height of up to 150m. The vessels will
we generate
emissions and secure the UK’s energy
supplies. It won’t be long before enough
carry a 1000tonne capacity main crane,
which is three times the size of the main
from renewable
offshore wind power is plugged in to
the grid to make us world leaders, a
crane currently used by the Resolution.
sources, helping
fantastic achievement in less than a
decade.”
Proven technology
When it was constructed in 2003
to cut carbon
Low-carbon energy
Resolution was believed to be the only
purpose-built ship capable of carrying
emissions and
The objective of the Ormonde Project
is to provide generation of low-carbon
out offshore wind farm installations.
MPI chief executive officer, Paul
secure the UK’s
electricity via the co-development
of offshore wind and natural gas
Gibson, was enthusiastic about the
energy supplies.”
resources. The project will be centred
project, stating: “Resolution was on two undeveloped natural gas fields
ground-breaking, but we struggled to and an offshore wind farm.
get people to look at it as the fantastic Successful deployment of the
solution for offshore wind that it Consent hybrid concept will represent what
was. Finally, it’s proved itself, it has a On a more optimistic note, there are is purported to be a global ‘first’,
reputation as the fastest, safest, and wind energy organisations creating demonstrating the commercial viability
most economical means of installing a stir in the market, such as Eclipse of utilising hydrocarbon reserves as a
wind farms and now there is a demand Energy UK. Eclipse has been granted catalyst to develop cost-efficient, low
for more like it.” UK government consent to enlarge carbon, distributed power generation
However, offshore wind power its previously consented offshore in the offshore environment. As well
installations can be problematic from wind farm and to generate and export as sharing common infrastructure
a commercial perspective, if forecasts electricity from the adjacent Ormonde and providing operational savings, the
from energy business research analysts, gas fields’ development. This completes addition of gas field generation capacity
Douglas-Westwood, are to be believed. the series of principal permissions within the project will introduce
They have predicted that there may needed to construct the world’s first predictability of power generation and
be supply chain issues with turbines. co-development of offshore gas and revenue, countering the problem of
The current issue is that the breadth wind energy in the East Irish Sea. intermittency typically associated with
of manufacturers supplying turbines The consent permits Ormonde to wind power. OMT
26 Offshore Marine Technology 4th Quarter 2008
OOMT_4Q08_p24+25+26.indd Sec1:26MT_4Q08_p24+25+26.indd Sec1:26 110/20/08 2:32:04 PM0/20/08 2:32:04 PM
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