RENEWABLES
OFFSHORE WIND POTENTIAL
Photo: Port of Tyne
Wind generated electricity is the key to being able to achieve decarbonisation writes Simon Brett, commercial director for port services at the Port of Tyne
The UK government has released ambitious targets for renewable electricity generation from wind farms. It wants a 25% increase in offshore wind power capacity, rising from the current 30GW to be generating 40GW by 2030. A significant increase, it is needed to satisfy the future energy gap due to industry’s requirement for clean energy for decarbonisation projects. Wind generated electricity is the key to being able to achieve these goals and scaling to this degree will require both new fixed and floating installations. The question is, can wind energy infrastructure providers rise to this challenge? Ideally placed The Port of Tyne believes it can and we are ideally placed to support any developments within the northern North Sea area spanning a 200-mile radius. In the short term, this includes designated farm sites at Hornsea and Dogger Bank, moving to Inchcape and Seagreen within the next five years, plus Marr Bank and Berwick Bank within the next decade. Just as the UK government wants to increase its clean electricity supply, so too do other governments elsewhere in the world. This international rush to expand will seriously compromise availability of the resources needed and sequencing projects adequately to satisfy this demand will be a challenge. It will be especially difficult because in tandem with the rush to install, is a drive to increase turbine capacity. Whereas before, wind turbines were designed to generate 6 or 8 GW, new extra-large turbines are being designed to generate up to 20GW. These new models require much bigger installation vessels and fewer ports can handle them. In the case of floating wind farms, a 20GW turbine also needs a floater that
8 Tyne Clean Energy Park (TCEP) at the Port of Tyne is set to become the North East’s most versatile clean energy park
is too big to be accommodated in most UK ports. All this will inevitably create challenges to be overcome. All stakeholders need to consider the implication of this desire for ever increasing turbine size - fixed or floating - and the impact this will have on the supply chain. It affects ports, tier one suppliers and all the plant and equipment vessels they operate. Larger turbines are attractive to economically generate the level of power needed, but they create inherent supply chain obstacles, since their size excludes so many ports from becoming suitable installation or manufacturing bases. Due to the Port of Tyne’s 13m draft and 65-70m beam, we can accommodate the vast majority of turbines.
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Port of Tyne anticipates Tyne Clean Energy Park will play an important role in supporting the government’s goal to power every UK home with offshore wind electricity Huge potential A further complication in the UK exists because our government has set targets for 60% of UK content for wind turbines to be installed in UK waters. This is a sound policy, but it affects the supply chain because there will be increased demand for making components, for instance monopiles, turbines, blades, towers, cells and cable manufacturing. All this needs to be happening from port locations at roughly the same time that installations also need to be going ahead. It
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AUTUMN 2021 | 21
