Celtic Array Rhiannon wind farm off Anglesey scrapped
Credit: Giant wind farm plan is scrapped | BBC News | 31 July 2014 | www.bbc.co.uk ~~
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A massive wind farm planned for the Irish Sea has been scrapped.
The Rhiannon wind farm, 12 miles (19km) north east of Anglesey, would have covered an area the size of the island.
Celtic Array, a partnership of Centrica and Danish firm Dong Energy, said the Irish Sea was “economically unviable” with current technology due to “challenging ground conditions”.
Up to 440 turbines would have produced enough power to meet the needs of around 1.7m homes.
“We’re disappointed not to be progressing with our work to develop wind farms in the Irish Sea Zone,” said a spokesperson for the project.
“However our assessments have shown that ground conditions are such that it’s not viable for us to proceed with the technology that’s available at this stage.”
Jobs hope
First announced in 2010, the project had been submitted to the UK government in 2012, followed by a series of public meetings in north Wales and on the Isle of Man.
Anglesey council leader Ieuan Williams said the announcement was “hugely disappointing”.
“We’d hoped that the Rhiannon Wind Farm operational base could have been located in the port of Holyhead, given its potential for assembly, operations and maintenance of offshore wind farms,” he said.
“This could have brought jobs and economic benefits to the island.”
Nick Medic, spokesman on offshore developments for the industry body RenewableUK, said while the announcement was disappointing, the reasons behind it were “understandable”.
Earlier in July, National Grid confirmed that the timetable had slipped for its plans to connect the Rhiannon wind farm to the electricity network with a 1km overhead line near Rhosgoch on the island.
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