Beatrice is a go – British offshore wind farm will be realized with EU funds

The owning consortium, consisting of Scottish utility company SSE, the Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and – for the first time active in Europe – SDIC Power from China, announced earlier this week that the funding of the EUR 3.15 billion (2.6 billion pounds) expensive project is secured. One contributor, among other parties, is the European Investment Bank EIB, which invested 525 million pounds from the European Fund for Strategic Investments.

“Investment in offshore wind is crucial to harnessing the full potential of Scotland’s renewable energy resources. The European Investment Bank is one of the world’s largest lenders for renewable energy and our backing for Beatrice represents the EIB’s largest ever support for offshore wind investment. We are pleased to provide GBP 525 million to support construction of the Beatrice windfarm that will strengthen renewable energy generation in Scotland. This also represents the first Scottish scheme to be backed by the new European Fund for Strategic Investments. EIB backing for energy investment across the UK demonstrates our firm commitment to supporting ambitious energy projects that create jobs and benefit local companies.” said Jonathan Taylor, European Investment Bank Vice President.

84 offshore wind turbines will be erected at a distance of approximately 14 kilometers to the coast of the Outer Moray Firth, which lies between the Highlands and the rest of the Scottish country, until the year of 2019. The turbines chosen are the SWT 7.0-154 by Siemens – the largest available offshore wind turbines at the moment. The German company has already announced plans to support the British economy with this order: The respective 77 meter blades are to be manufactured in Hull/ENgland, where Siemens has recently built a new plant.

"This is a significant order for our new 7-megawatt-class wind turbine", stated Michael Hannibal, CEO of the Offshore Market Unit of the Siemens Wind Power and Renewables Division. "We are looking forward to working with our customer on this large offshore wind power project off the Scottish coast."

Image: SSE

Following commissioning of the plant in 2019, Siemens will also be responsible for service and maintenance for the wind turbines within the framework of a long-term service contract extending over a period of 15 years. For the grid access solution, Siemens will deliver two offshore transformer modules, which are one third smaller in size and weight compared to a conventional alternating-current (AC) platform. Siemens' partner in delivering the offshore grid connection, Nexans, will be responsible for design, supply and installation of the export cable, both offshore and onshore. The OTM's will be linked together to provide the required transmission capacity. Focusing on the core electrical equipment and removing a number of optional ancillary systems made this space and weight reduction possible, which also results in a reduced maintenance regime.

“The Beatrice Offshore Windfarm has the opportunity to deliver so much to Caithness and Scotland as a whole, in terms of employment and community benefit. Scotland’s renewables sector is stronger than ever and our early adoption of clean, green energy technology and infrastructure was the right thing to do. Renewables are now Scotland’s biggest electricity generator, and nearly half of gross electricity consumption comes from renewables. Scotland is well on course to meet its interim renewables target and is delivering a strong contribution to global climate efforts. I look forward to this project contributing to our green energy mix.” said Paul Wheelhouse, Minister for Business, Innovation & Energy in the Scottish Government.

If there will be future projects of this kind, is meanwhile written in the stars. Much will depend on whether the British decide to remain in the European Union on 23 June. If not, EU funding for such projects will become a lot more difficult.

Over the last decade the European Investment Bank has provided more than GBP 10 billion for investment in energy infrastructure across the UK including renewable energy schemes, national transmission networks and regional power distribution as well as inter-connectors to Ireland, France and the Netherlands. Lending by the EIB in the UK last year totalled GBP 5.6 billion and supported long-term investment in 40 projects across the country. This represented the largest annual engagement since the start of EIB lending in GB in 1973 which has supported nearly GBP 16 billion of overall investment.