Dong wind farms to triple in size

Major extensions to Dong Energy's offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea off the North Wirral and Cumbrian coasts were among a round of eight renewables projects approved by Government yesterday.

In Liverpool Bay, around 7km north of the North Wirral coast, the existing Burbo 2 Offshore Wind Farm will be extended from 30 to 95 turbines. This is expected to add 258 MW of low-carbon electricity capacity when it comes into operation in 2017.

A similar scale of expansion is planned for the farm off Walney Island, Cumbria which currently produces 367MW of power from 102 turbines and would rise by 660MW of capacity.

The successful projects were awarded contracts under the Final Investment Decision Enabling for Renewables process, allocating the first Contracts for Difference that are being introduced through the Electricity Market Reform programme. Under CfDs, generators and developers receive a fixed strike price for the electricity they produce for 15 years.

The contracts must now be approved by European state aid regulators before being confirmed in the autumn.

Successful Projects