ScottishPower, Vattenfall ready with met masts for 7.2-GW offshore wind scheme

Aug 26, 2013 - ScottishPower Renewables said Friday it had wrapped up the installation of two weather met masts at the 7.2-GW East Anglia wind zone off the UK, jointly developed with Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall AB.

ScottishPower Renewables, a unit of Spanish power utility Iberdrola (MCE:IBE), said the weather monitoring systems required investment of GBP 17 million (USD 26.5m/EUR 19.8m). The project was overseen by British energy services firm Wood Group.

The weather monitoring masts will start delivering information from September, facilitating technical and engineering decisions for the wind complex. Erected on monopile foundations, the stations will measure wind speed and direction, as well as temperature and air pressure.

The East Anglia offshore wind zone off the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts is a 50/50 joint venture of ScottishPower Renewables and Vattenfall. If fully developed, it can produce enough electricity to supply about 5 million households each year. In December 2012 the partners filed a planning application for the first six projects in the zone. The first 1.2-GW East Anglia ONE project will feature up to 325 wind turbines in the southern North Sea. Its output is estimated to be enough to meet the annual power needs of about 770,000 local homes.

Initial surveys are ongoing for the second and third proposed projects that will add 2.4 GW of capacity, ScottishPower Renewables said.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.557/EUR 1.163)

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