Prime minister gives green light to massive new windfarm in sea off Walney
Walney’s coastline is set to undergo a radical transformation.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has given the go-ahead for a massive new windfarm, with turbines taller than Blackpool Tower to be built eight miles off Walney Island.
The West of Duddon Sands Wind Farm will boast 139 turbines, some of which will be 600ft high, compared with 518ft of the famous tower.
They will be spread between eight miles (14km) and 14 miles (23km) from the Walney coast.
Hundreds of jobs will be involved in building them, but there will only be about 30 full-time local jobs.
At the same time Furness MP and business secretary John Hutton gave the go-ahead for another 30 giant turbines to be built in the Ormonde windfarm, nearer the Walney coast.
Thirty turbines are already operating off Walney in the Barrow Offshore Wind complex four miles out, and another large windfarm with up to 150 towering turbines, the Walney Wind Farm, has already been given government permission, and the first phase of the building work will start next year.
In a speech to the Scottish Confederation of British Industry conference in Glasgow last night, Gordon Brown said: “Today I can announce the approval of a new offshore windfarm, near Walney Island – off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness.
“At up to 139 turbines, it will be one of the UK’s largest, providing the equivalent of all the homes in Glasgow and Dundee with clean, green electricity – and helping to give the UK the highest operating offshore wind capacity in the world.”
West of Duddon Sands developers, Morecambe Wind Limited, estimate the windfarm could provide 372,000 homes with clean, green electricity. Mr Hutton said: “These windfarms demonstrate our commitment to dramatically increase the amount of energy we generate from renewable sources, helping to cut the UK’s carbon emissions and secure our energy supplies.
“West of Duddon Sands will be one of the three largest windfarms approved to date and will help provide a significant contribution towards our renewable energy targets.”
Both new developments have to put in place appropriate measures to alert shipping to the presence of the windfarms.
Morecambe Wind Limited is a consortium of Scottish Power, Eurus Energy and Danish firm DONG Energy.
Despite the big boost of renewable energy, Furness Enterprise has reservations about the mass development off Furness because it is expected to generate few local jobs and benefits for the area.
Fe chief executive Harry Knowles said: “It has been very difficult for UK companies to break into the turbine manufacturing supply chain so I do not expect a significant number of jobs to come from this development.” Walney community campaigner Alan Willamson believes the windfarm will be an eyesore.
“I am gobsmacked.” he said. “To be honest I think we have got enough wind turbines around here and the government has gone a bit over the top.
“It seems like everyone has said: ‘not in my backyard’, so they are just going to be plonked here because it’s a windy area.”
But Walney resident and borough councillor Des Barlow welcomed the scheme.
He said: “We have got to look to the future. Normal sources of energy are going to dry up. I think they are quite far out.
“I think you are just sitting at Biggar Bank staring out to sea you will sea them, but if you are just going about your normal day I think you will hardly notice them.”
The West of Duddon Sands windfarm is not expected to be built until 2012.
One reason for the timescale is a shortage of capacity at major turbine makers which are trying to satisfy world demand.
5 September 2008
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