September 18, 2007
England

Offshore windfarm wins approval

Plans for a windfarm off the North-East coast were tonight given the go ahead.

EDF Energy has received consent from the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) for its offshore windfarm project at Redcar, east Cleveland.

The planned windfarm will consist of up to 30 turbines capable of producing up to 90MW of electricity, enough electricity to supply the annual requirements of around 60,000 households.

The approval means EDF Energy can now proceed to the next development phase of its EDF Energy Northern Offshore Wind scheme.

Over the past four years, the company has been consulting with local residents, councils and various national bodies on the proposed development.

EDF Energy chief executive Vincent de Rivaz said: “We’re very pleased with DBERR’s decision which marks an important milestone for the project. We have been consulting on our plans extensively with local groups for over four years and we would like to thank all those who took part for their valued input.

“EDF Energy has a long-term commitment to maintaining a diverse and sustainable energy mix in the future, involving all types of generation including renewables. We believe this diversity is crucial to address climate change, for security of supply and to provide competitively priced electricity for all our customers.

“We recently announced our climate commitments, which set out our plans to transform our business to help tackle climate change.

“A key commitment is that over the next five years, EDF Energy and its affiliates will invest in around 1,000MW of UK renewable energy production.

“The project proposed for Redcar will play an important role in helping to achieve these targets and will help lead the way in providing low carbon energy for current and future generations.”

By Claire Burbage

The Northern Echo

17 September 2007


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/09/18/offshore-windfarm-wins-approval/