LONDON ARRAY, WORLD’S BIGGEST OFFSHORE WIND, GETS FUNDING

Many observers heralded Royal Dutch Shell’s May withdrawal of its share of the financing for the London Array, the world’s biggest offshore wind installation, as the beginning of the end for Britain's offshore wind ambitions. NewEnergyNews immediately predicted other financing would be found and the project would go forward. (See WORLD’S BIGGEST OFFSHORE WIND TO UK)

Shell’s partners, two European power companies, announced July 21 they would buy out the multinational oil giant and complete the project.

There is more to it than the obvious undeniable logic of wind energy (and offshore wind in particular). There is more even than the inevitability of New Energy in general. It was easy to see the project would eventually go forward despite Royal Dutch Shell's intimations about prohibitive rising costs. Here’s how NewEnergyNews explained in May why it was so certain the London Array would find new financing:

“…A utility may see more longterm benefit from wind than an oil company in an emissions constrained economy. An oil company like Shell has the option of choosing from a variety of emissions-reducing investments to meet its EU ETS/Kyoto caps. A utility like SSE or E.ON must obtain a certain percent of its power from New Energy sources…The oil company is guided by the EU’s cap-and-trade system. The utility is guided by the EU-wide Renewable Energy Standard (RES)…”

And out of that logic emerges the completed financing deal: The power companies want the investment. The oil company sold it to them.

Effectively designed incentives clearly played a significant role here.

In the long run it is the oil company’s loss. Since at least the 1970s, oil companies have been making these kinds of shortsighted decisions. Will they eventually get the idea? It will certainly start sinking in as their access to inexpensive oil sinks into deep, frigid waters, hard to refine sands, hard to produce shale mountains and violent nations.

Click here for more info on offshore wind in the UK

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E.On and Dong Energy buy Shell’s stake in world’s biggest wind farm near London
July 21, 2008 (AP via CNN Money)
and
Britain moves closer to green energy goals
July 21, 2008 (Reuters)

WHO
E.ON UK (Paul Golby, Chief Executive); Dong Energy; Royal Dutch Shell PLC; Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) (Ian Marchant, Chief Executive)

WHAT
- E.ON UK and Dong Energy will buy Royal Dutch Shell’s shares in the proposed 1000-megawatt London Array, the biggest off shore wind installation yet planned.
- SSE got approval from Scottish Ministers for the 456-megawatt Clyde Wind Project.

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WHEN
- Royal Dutch Shell announced in May it would sell its share of the project.
- The offshore installaion is seen as a key for the UK in meeting its goal of obtaining 10% of its power from New Energy by 2010.
- Construction on the Clyde project is expected to begin later in fiscal 2008 with the 1st phase going on line in 2010 and completion in 2011.

WHERE
- E.ON is based in Germany.
- Dong Energy is based in Denmark.
- The London Array will be built where the UK’s Thames River meets the North Sea, 60 miles to the east of London.
- The Clyde Wind Project will be in South Lanarkshire in southern Scotland.

WHY
- The plan for the London Array calls for 341 turbines exceeding 1,000 megawatts of generation capacity.
- Estimated cost is in the area of $5 billion. Shell’s excuse for pulling out, escalating costs, was only part of why the project makes less sense for a multinational oil company than for a European power company.
- The Array is expected to supply approximately one third of London’s electricity.
- Estimated cost of the 152-turbine Clyde Wind Project is L600 million ($1.19 billion).
- The Clyde Project was obtained by SSE when it bought Airtricity in early 2008.

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QUOTES
- Paul Golby, Chief Executive, E.ON UK: "We're pleased that, together with DONG Energy, we've been able to secure the future of the project…We hope to be able to keep the project on track and we should be able to complete the first phase by the end of 2012, subject to securing a number of important contracts, such as those for the wind turbines."
- Ian Marchant, Chief Executive, SSE: "Projects like Clyde are essential if Scotland and the UK are to have any hope of meeting legally-binding EU targets for renewable energy…"