THE UK’S BOLD BET ON OCEAN WIND

UK MPs issue warning on offshore wind 'gamble'
22 September 2011 (Windpower Monthly)

"The House of Commons Committee on Climate Change has described the UK’s plans to develop 18GW of offshore wind by 2020 as “a big gamble”.

"The MPs were reporting on the possibility of developing a ‘European supergrid’ to facilitate offshore development in the North Sea [and questioned the viability and cost of a "supergrid" and they did not think would be built before 2020]."

click to enlarge

"The committee said that although encouraging and making use of the UK’s huge offshore wind generation made sense, the report questioned its cost and reliability [and criticised the way offshore projects are currently connected to the grid through point-to-point connections, which the Supergrid would remedy]…

"The dilemma for the UK government is whether to spend money building new offshore transmission systems, with the possibility they could lie idle if development does not take off…"