13 May 2010 | Lindsay Clark
Property owner The Crown Estate is extending its wind farm construction to provide projects to the offshore wind supply chain and boost electricity generation.
The Crown Estate, whose portfolio includes the seabed around the British coast, has launched a “round 1 and 2 project” extension to provide an additional 2 GW of capacity, enough electricity to meet the needs of up to 1.4 million homes in the UK. The announcement is an interim step in advance of the next full procurement, “round 3”.
Rob Hastings, The Crown Estate’s director of the marine estate, said: “This is another positive step in the maturing of the offshore wind industry and will significantly support the growth of the supply chain as it adds further to the pipeline of construction projects. It shows The Crown Estate’s commitment to help develop this maturing sector with a view to driving the UK offshore wind energy industry forward and to creating a long-term sustainable energy source for the UK.”
In April, the German engineering conglomerate Siemens said it would hold a supplier event during June to develop relationships with UK engineering suppliers ahead of the construction of a wind turbine factory in the UK.
Prior to the general election, the Labour government had committed to using procurement to develop an advanced supplier base of UK manufacturers capable of benefiting from the growth in the low-carbon energy production around the world. In March last year, former prime minister Gordon Brown called for a “green new deal” to boost the environmental sector.
