Meeting ambitious targets to harness wind energy in the UK will cost some £10.4bn just to connect to the grid, according to the government.
Last week the government confirmed ambitious plans to set-up 25GW of wind power around the UK, which would supply up to a quarter of the UK’s energy.
Responding to questions in the House of Lords, energy minister Lord hunt said: “The department has not undertaken any forecasting on the costs of the infrastructure needed for 25GW of additional offshore wind power.
“However, any such calculation would be dependent on a number of factors including the location of future offshore wind farms (distance from the shore and water depth), turbine, supply chain and installation costs, and planning costs.
“The combined onshore and offshore cost of connecting the 25GW of Round 3 offshore wind generation projects is estimated by National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) to be £10.4bn,” he said.
According to research by the British Wind Energy Association, wind power costs some £3.1M per MW of installed power. To install 25GW would therefore cost £77.5bn on top of the costs for connection.
Responding to questions in the House of Lords, energy minister Lord hunt said: “The department has not undertaken any forecasting on the costs of the infrastructure needed for 25GW of additional offshore wind power.
“However, any such calculation would be dependent on a number of factors including the location of future offshore wind farms (distance from the shore and water depth), turbine, supply chain and installation costs, and planning costs.
“The combined onshore and offshore cost of connecting the 25GW of Round 3 offshore wind generation projects is estimated by National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) to be £10.4bn,” he said.
According to research by the British Wind Energy Association, wind power costs some £3.1M per MW of installed power. To install 25GW would therefore cost £77.5bn on top of the costs for connection.
Source: The New Civil Engineer
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