Britain's largest offshore windfarm operator, Dong Energy, has announced plans to spend a further £6 billion in the UK by 2020, under the impression that the Government is serious about supporting renewable energy from wind.
Fellow windfarm operator, Vattenfall, agrees with the optimism, saying is is hoping to proceed with a turbine testing site off Scotland in the summer.
Brent Cheshire, Dong’s UK division chairman, has said he had "harboured concerns" about government policies as little as two months ago, but had since been reassured by recent firm commitments to offshore wind, according to the Guardian.
Mr Cheshire said it made more sense for the government to back offshore wind than the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, which is expected to be much more expensive.
Denmark-based Dong has spent £6bn so far developing windfarms in Britain and now says it wants to double this amount in the next four years. This means pressing ahead with projects such as the giant Hornsea scheme off Yorkshire.
Once completed, this scheme will become the world’s first gigawatt-scale windfarm, 80 miles offshore. Hornsea’s 240 turbines are scheduled to commence electricity generation by 2020 with the capacity to power 800,000 homes.
Cedrec's take
Good news for the offshore renewables industry. Dong have already spent an estimated £6 billion, so doubling the investment with such massive amounts of money is encouraging to see.
The news that subsidies for renewables were being culled in the budgets was disheartening for renewables supporters, but Dong and Vattenfall's plans are a silver lining that will hopefully make a difference.
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