Offshore Wind Operational Report: Thecrownestate - Co.uk
Offshore Wind Operational Report: Thecrownestate - Co.uk
Offshore Wind Operational Report: Thecrownestate - Co.uk
operational report
2019
thecrownestate.co.uk
03 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019
Introduction
This operational report, covering 2019, is testament Figure 1: UK electricity generation mix 2019*
to the professionalism and vitality of the UK offshore
Oil & Hydro
wind sector.
Offshore other (natural Pumped
Wind Solar fuels Coal flow) storage
With over 40 wind farms and around 2,200 turbines now
generating in UK waters, it’s easy to forget that less than 10% 4% 2% 2% 2% 1%
20 years ago the first-ever offshore turbines were installed
in the North Sea. Those trailblazing turbines at Blyth,
a project I was privileged to manage, kick-started the
remarkable progress of offshore wind in UK waters and
proved an invaluable testing ground for offshore wind
construction, operations and maintenance. In Blyth’s
lifetime, the UK offshore wind sector has matured almost
beyond recognition, and the project’s safe decommissioning
in 2019 marks a historic milestone for our industry.
04
Offshore wind
farm status
The Crown Estate
32TWh plant species, many of which are already under pressure.
We are playing our part, including with the Marine Data
Exchange, one of the world’s largest open-access
Onshore
Wind
Bioenergy Nuclear Gas
The Crown Estate manages a unique portfolio, which 2019 UK OFFSHORE WIND
databases of marine spatial information, an overview
06
Offshore wind assets includes the seabed, natural marine resources and much of ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION
of which is provided in this report.
the foreshore around England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
07
Scotland Figure 2: Renewable electricity generation
Speaking of pressure, as I write this in March 2020, by fuel type
08
Health and safety In this capacity we are responsible for awarding seabed
09
Wind farm
rights for offshore renewable energy projects as well as
marine minerals, cables and pipelines. We play a unique
13m daily life for many of us has changed beyond recognition
because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, the global offshore
TWh
40
performance
role in developing and helping sustain UK energy supply tonnes wind sector continues to perform remarkably strongly, as
demonstrated by its contribution to the supply of energy,
12
Offshore Transmission and infrastructure, working in collaboration with a wide 35
AVOIDED CO2 now around 10% of UK electricity generation. Operations
Owner (OFTO) range of organisations.
and maintenance teams are keeping the critical national
performance 30
infrastructure of our wind farms running.
Established by an Act of Parliament, we return all our profit
14
Marine Data Exchange
10%
to Treasury for the benefit of the nation. This has totalled 25
Long-term growth outlook is strong, underpinned by
16
Post-construction £2.8bn over the last ten years.
fundamentals such as the UK’s legal commitment to net 20
environmental
PROPORTION OF zero by 2050. As we anticipate a gradual return to a form
monitoring survey data
TOTAL UK ELECTRICITY of normal business, the performance and resilience of the 15
19
Wind farm ownership GENERATED BY OFFSHORE sector in 2019 has confirmed its credentials for sustained
Scotland WIND IN 2019 growth in the year ahead and the decades to come. 10
22
Offshore Transmission
Owner (OFTO)
The seabed around Scotland is managed by a separate 5
ownership
organisation, Crown Estate Scotland. Huub den Rooijen
30%
Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm (Ørsted)
24
Investment Director of Energy, Minerals and Infrastructure 0
This report has been produced by The Crown Estate but for The Crown Estate
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Development portfolio
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completeness, publicly available data on offshore wind in
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UK OFFSHORE WIND
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and activities
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Scotland has been included in key sections, such as offshore
Bi
GENERATED ENOUGH
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28
Decommissioning wind farm status and national metrics.
O
ELECTRICITY IN 2019
O
and recycling TO SUPPLY THE NEEDS 2018 2019*
We have also included a page on offshore wind management OF 8.3M HOMES, AROUND
30
Skills
in Scotland, provided by Crown Estate Scotland (page 7). 30% OF THE UK TOTAL *Source: BEIS energy statistics (provisional figures)
04 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019 05 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019
Operational: Total capacity of wind farms that have been fully commissioned
99%
Phase 1
21 26 TOTAL 5,466
09 08
12
THE TOP FIVE 22
11 10 Total capacity of wind farms that have
REPRESENT 99%
been decommissioned
OF ALL EUROPEAN 34
CAPACITY 18
19 Up to capacity MW
52 Blyth 4
TOTAL 4
Figure 6: UK offshore wind assets as at 31 December 2019 Floating turbines are already in operation electricity in 2019 to power 36,000
at two sites in Scottish waters: the homes. (Source: Equinor)
Kincardine offshore wind farm and
Hywind Scotland developments. The Kincardine offshore wind farm
currently operates a single test turbine
The larger of the two, Hywind Scotland, with a capacity of 2.5MW. Over the next
is the world’s first fully operational 2 years, an additional five turbines will be
floating wind farm. Located in the installed, each with a capacity of 9.5MW,
North Sea, it consists of five turbines, taking the total capacity to 50MW.
each with 6MW capacity, arranged
across an area of around four square Floating wind technologies are currently
OFFSHORE OFFSHORE EXPORT MET WIND kilometres. The turbines are ballast less widely deployed than the more
TURBINES SUBSTATIONS CABLES MASTS FARMS stabilised, anchored to the seabed mature, fixed solutions. With as much as
Operational: 2,189 32 74 11 39 in water depths of between 95m and 80% of the total potential for offshore
Under construction: 652 10 13 0 6 129m, and are subject to average wind believed to be in deep waters, it
TOTAL: 2,841 43 87 11 45 wind speeds of 10m per second. could play a significant role in meeting
Hywind Scotland generated enough future energy requirements.
Operational: Wind farms that have been fully commissioned and achieved Works Completion
Under construction: Wind farms having reached Final Investment Decision (FID) and those that are under construction but not yet fully operational.
There is a reduction in the offshore turbines under construction since the 2018 report because planned turbine capacities have increased at Moray East,
reducing the quantity of turbines needed.
08 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019 09 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019
Health and safety performance in The improvement in overall performance Figure 9: Incident categories for
performance The expected power output is derived
from hourly satellite measurements of
local wind speed and theoretical wind
offshore wind is improving. Data in of global offshore wind has been UK offshore wind industry in 2018 turbine power curves. This calculation
this section refers to the latest report1 attributed to the maturity of the method carries a notable uncertainty,
(2018) from G+, the global health industry, which is in turn driven by: Medical Lost Restricted Fleet performance index primarily due to indirect and low-
and safety organisation for offshore • A strong focus on high potential Asset treatment work day work day frequency wind speed data. A more
damage cases incidents incidents
wind, which reveals that 11 out of hazards The fleet performance index compares accurate calculation would necessitate
12 categories of reportable incident • Improved technology 10% 4% 4% 3% metered electricity output against the 10-minute average wind speed data
showed an improvement between 2017 • Improved culture where stakeholders expected output adjusted for actual and project-specific power curves.
and 2018 as illustrated in Figure 7. share lessons learned wind speed during that period. It gives
• Improvement of working methods a direct measure of, and improves our In 2019, the fleet performance index
The UK outperformed the global ability to forecast, the performance was 98.2% despite being affected
industry in 2018 as its Lost Time Figure 9 shows the incident categories4 of the offshore wind farm fleet in by cable repairs and grid maintenance.
Injury Frequency (LTIF2) and Total for the UK, which highlights the need England and Wales, without any This impressive performance reflects
Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR3) were to continually improve health and adjustment for outages. The analysis the quality of the hardware and the
1.48 and 4.43 respectively, while the safety performance. includes the whole system of fully efficient management of the assets.
global industry’s LTIF and TRIR were operational wind farms and their Figure 10 shows the variation in fleet
1.52 and 4.55 respectively. Further breakdown of the data shows associated transmission/export performance for the last nine years.
that of the 588 incidents, construction,
Comparing the LTIF and TRIR of development and operations sites
the three countries with the highest contributed 208, 11 and 369 incidents
number of offshore wind farm sites – respectively. Marine operations, access/
UK (40), Germany (14) and Denmark egress and lifting operations were the Figure 10: Fleet performance index
23% 19% 37%
(6) – the UK again emerged with the top three work processes accounting
100.5% 10
best health and safety performance, for 19%, 12% and 10% respectively. First aid Near hits Hazardous
as shown in Figure 8. cases observations 100.0% 9
To drive improved performance,
While there has been tremendous G+ continues to share learnings 8
99.5%
PERFORMANCE INDEX
7
industry, there is still scope for more. use of technology to reduce risks, 99.0%
Out of the 256 high potential incidents and focusing on mental health 6
that occurred in 2018, 66% were in the and wellbeing. 98.5%
UK. High potential incidents are those 5
that have the potential to cause fatal The G+ 2018 incident data can 98.0%
4
or life-changing injuries. be found at bit.ly/3er95NA
97.5%
3
97.0%
2
96.5% 1
Figure 7: Global offshore wind industry Figure 8: Countries with the highest
incident comparison between 2017 and 2018 number of sites in 2018 96.0% 0
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Reportable incidents Number
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Country of sites LTIF TRIR
Fatalities
UK 40 1.48 4.43
Total lost work days incidents
Germany 14 2.46 5.75
Incidents that occurred on operational sites
Denmark 6 2.88 10.96
Incidents that occurred on project sites
NUMBER OF HOMES THAT COULD BE SUPPLIED BY
Incidents that occurred on development sites
OFFSHORE WIND ELECTRICITY GENERATION
Incidents during marine operations
1 A time lag in the data means 2019 global health
Incidents during lifting operations and safety statistics are not yet available. We have reported
on the recently published G+ 2018 incident data report.
Incidents when gaining access/egress or climbing
2 LTIF = The number of recordable injuries (fatalities + lost
Incidents occurred in the turbine work day incidents) per 1,000,000 hours worked.
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
maintenance contracts to optimise
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
production-based availability of the plant.
It is also because capacity factors of
newer sites are higher and closer to 50%.
Wind variability Figure 12: Monthly energy deviation due to wind speed in 2019
Offshore generation Figure 13: Offshore wind electricity generation by UK asset in 2019
Wind farm output is dependent on 40%
Walney
wind speed. While the average output Figure 13 shows that the top 5 wind
Lincs Others Extension Hornsea 1 Beatrice Race Bank
of a wind farm over its lifetime can be 30% farms generated more than a third
accurately calculated using long-term of the UK’s total offshore wind power 3.1% 30.1% 8.6% 7.2% 6.7% 6.7%
data, its performance over a short in 2019.
20%
period of time is primarily dependent
on local wind conditions. The air flow at a higher altitude
10% is stronger and less turbulent.
Figure 12 shows the impact on energy This greatly reduces transient loads
production due to monthly wind speed 0% and improves power output. Taller
32
variation in England and Wales. turbines can therefore harness more
power per unit capacity compared
-10%
March and August were significantly to smaller turbines.
TWh
windier than expected, while January,
Total generation
May and November were significantly -20% The latest wind farms in operation
in 2019
less windy than average conditions. have capacity factors in excess of
Variations due to local wind conditions -30% 50% (the average production is more
are expected, however there was less than 50% of the nameplate capacity).
regional variability in 2019 compared
to recent years. The overall energy -40%
deviation at the end of 2019 was
2.3% below the long-term average. -50%
3.2% 3.3% 4.4% 4.7% 5.0% 5.3% 5.5% 6.2%
n
ar
pr
ay
ug
ep
ct
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A
9
Lincs OFTO 100 100 99.93 99.78 100
–1
–1
–1
–1
–1
longer term strategic development. wind in its Decarbonisation Action
14
15
16
17
18
London Array OFTO 99.90 99.98 98.88 99.80 99.94 Plan3, published in February 2020.
20
20
20
20
20
Ormonde OFTO 99.93 100 99.59 100 100 During 2019, we have been exploring Against the backdrop of Net Zero,
Robin Rigg OFTO 100 99.99 99.99 100 100 the potential for offshore transmission Ofgem indicated it would work with
Sheringham Shoal OFTO 99.84 100 99.95 99.23 99.40 infrastructure to be designed for a Government, industry, the Electricity
Thanet OFTO 82.47 83.05 96.15 100 100 longer life than is currently the case System Operator and The Crown Estate
for operating projects – potentially up to develop coordinated solutions and
Walney 1 OFTO 100 100 99.62 99.70 100
to 60 years to facilitate two wind farm in doing so, explore options for meshed
Walney 2 OFTO 100 92 100 100 91.42
24% 10% 41% project life cycles. This would enable grids rather than radial links. This 1 HM Government bit.ly/2KbeM4k
West of Duddon Sands OFTO N/A 100 99.64 99.45 100
any subsequent re-powering and/or is a positive development and we 2 The Crown Estate bit.ly/2z6o13T
OFTO Planned DNO Generator Westermost Rough OFTO N/A 100 100 100 99.73 re-planting without the need to develop will devote time to this in 2020. 3 Ofgem bit.ly/3evZNQL
14 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019 15 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019
OF DATA
lifetime of offshore wind farms.
Figure 17: 2019 public survey downloads by user type Figure 18: Survey data held on the MDE by development phase
TOTAL 17,140
Research
Consultancy 5,734
326
Developer 3,830
Academic 2,504
NGO 774
Government 453
Others 3,845
The value from the MDE evidence Almost half of the surveys also found of survey catch methods were used, over
and this resource continues to grow as collected over the last three years is not
more wind farms become operational. yet on the MDE and this is reflected in
The MDE acts to bring this data together the faint section of figure 21.
84%
OF SURVEYS SHOW A POSITIVE OR
NEUTRAL CHANGE IN FISH ECOLOGY
(42% POSITIVE, 42% NEUTRAL)
Figure 20: Post-construction environmental surveys held on the MDE by theme*
150 52 60
21
Marine
mammals
POST-CONSTRUCTION
ENVIRONMENTAL
Benthic
ecology
15
Epifauna
and fish 58 Birds
THE MOST ABUNDANT SPECIES OBSERVED
WERE WHITING, DAB AND THORNBACK RAY
MONITORING SURVEYS
Intertidal
ecology
*Surveys may contain more than one theme
Figure 21: Post-construction environmental survey data collection by theme over time
Marine mammals
Intertidal ecology
Epifauna and fish
Birds
Benthic ecology 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019
18 19 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019
ownership
Utility Financial investor
65% 27%
Supply
chain
< 1%
Utility companies dominate the Figure 23: Operational and under construction wind farm
ownership of the generating and ownership as a percentage of total capacity in 2019
under-construction fleet in the UK at
65%, with financial investors having EDP
the next biggest share at 27%. The Renováveis Equinor Others Ørsted RWE Innogy
ownership share of financial investors
2% 2% 33% 26% 8% 6%
in UK offshore wind increased just 1%
on the previous year and has averaged
27% for the last three years. The figures
suggest little change but it has been a
very active part of the market as the UK
fleet capacity has being growing, with
financial investors increasing their MW
capacity ownership by 90% over the last
four years (see figure 28 on page 25).
The Scandinavian presence has UK GIG Vattenfall SSE Iberdrola Global UK Green
been much evident in the UK offshore Offshore (Scottish Infrastructure Investment
wind sector and by 2019 some 38% Wind Fund Power) Partners Group (UK GIG)
of UK offshore wind was owned by
Scandinavian utility and financial
investors. Figure 24 on page 20 shows
the ownership position of fully operational
UK offshore wind farms in 2019.
20 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019 21 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019
Figure 24: Fully operational offshore wind farm ownership as at 31 December 2019 – listed by dominant ownership share
Gunfleet Sands I Ørsted 50.1% Ørsted 24.95% Dev. Bank of Japan1 24.95% JERA
Gunfleet Sands II Ørsted 50.1% Ørsted 24.95% Dev. Bank of Japan1 24.95% JERA
Burbo Bank Extension Ørsted 50% Ørsted 25% KIRKBI Invest A/S 25% PKA Holding ApS
Race Bank Ørsted 50% Ørsted 25% Macquarie European ...2 12.5% Sumi...3 6.3%4 6.3%5
Walney Extension Ørsted 50% Ørsted 25% PFA Holding ApS 25% PKA Holding ApS
Rampion RWE 30.1% RWE 25% UK GIG6 24.9% Enbridge Inc. 20% E.ON
London Array London Array Ltd 30% RWE 25% Ørsted 25% Caisse dépôt & placem... 7
20% Masdar
Rhyl Flats Innogy 50.1% Innogy 24.95% Greencoat UK Wind 24.95% UK GIG Offshore Win...8
Gwynt y Môr Innogy 50% Innogy 30% Stadtwerke München 20% Macquarie Infra ...9
Galloper Innogy 25% Innogy 25% Siemens Financial Ser...10 25% UK GIG6 12.5% ESB 12.5% Sumi...3
Inner Dowsing XceCo 61% UK GIG Offshore Wind Fund8 39% BlackRock
Beatrice SSE 40% SSE 35% Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners 25% SDIC Power Holding
3 Sumitomo Corporation
Ormonde Vattenfall 51% Vattenfall 49% AMF
4 Arjun Infrastructure
Hywind 2 Demonstration Equinor 75% Equinor 25% Masdar
Partners
5 Gravis Capital Management Sheringham Shoal Equinor 40% Equinor 25.3% Equitix 20% UK GIG Offshor...8 14.7% TRIG
6 UK Green Investment
Group (UK GIG) Dudgeon Equinor 35% Equinor 35% Masdar 30% China Resources
7 Caisse dépôt &
placement Québec Blyth Demonstration EDF Energy Renewables 100% EDF Energy Renewables
8 UK Green Investment
Group (UK GIG) Offshore
Teesside EDF Energy Renewables 51% EDF Energy Renewables 49% Dalmore Capital Ltd
Wind Fund
Levenmouth Demonstration ORE Catapult 100% ORE Catapult
9 Macquarie Infrastructure
and Real Assets
North Hoyle Innogy 100% Greencoat UK Wind
10 Siemens Financial Services
22 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019 23 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019
Offshore OFTO licence was granted and several Figure 25: Offshore
Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm (Alan O’Neill of Charles Hodge Photography and Equinor)
tenders within Tender Round 6 were Transmission Tenders
progressed, see Figure 25. TENDER ROUND 5: TENDER ROUND 6:
Owner (OFTO)
appointed December 2019
players: Transmission Capital Partners, licences are granted. The following Licences to be granted 2020
Blue Transmission, Balfour Beatty, tenders are currently underway: • Galloper – Preferred bidder Preferred bidder to
Diamond Transmission and Equitix. appointed November 2018 be appointed 2020
Export
Cable Offshore
Circuits Substations Ownership % Operator O&M Provider
Barrow Transmission Transmission Investment
1 1 100% International Public Partnerships
OFTO Capital Services Services Limited
Burbo Bank Diamond Transmission
1 1 50% Diamond ...1 50% HICL ...2 RES
Extension OFTO Corporation
Dudgeon Transmission Dudgeon Offshore
2 1 100% International Public Partnerships
OFTO Capital Services Wind Limited
Greater Equitix Management EDS HV Management
3 2 100% Equitix Ltd
Gabbard OFTO Services Limited
Gunfleet Transmission Transmission Investment
1 1 100% International Public Partnerships
Sands OFTO Capital Services Services Limited
Gwynt y Môr Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty Power
4 2 60% Balfour Beatty 40% Equitix
OFTO Investments Transmission & Distribution
Humber Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty Power
2 1 80% Equitix 20%...3
Gateway OFTO Investments Transmission & Distribution
Lincs Transmission Transmission Investment
2 1 100% International Public Partnerships
OFTO Capital Services Services Limited
London Array
4 2 50% Diamond ...1 50% 3i Group plc Frontier Power London Array Limited
OFTO
Ormonde Transmission Transmission Investment
1 1 100% International Public Partnerships
OFTO Capital Services Services Limited
Race Bank Diamond Transmission
2 2 50% Diamond ...1 50% HICL ...2 RES
OFTO Corporation
Robin Rigg Transmission RWE Renewables
2 0 100% International Public Partnerships
OFTO Capital Services UK Operations Limited
Sheringham
2 2 50% Diamond ...1 50% 3i Group plc Frontier Power Equinor
Shoal OFTO
Thanet Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty Power
2 1 80% Equitix 20%...3
OFTO Investments Transmission & Distribution
Walney 1
1 1 50% Diamond ...1 50% 3i Group plc Frontier Power RES
OFTO
Walney 2
1 1 50% Diamond ...1 50% 3i Group plc Frontier Power RES
OFTO
West of Duddon
2 1 100% Dalmore Capital Ltd Frontier Power Ørsted & SPR
Sands OFTO
Westermost Transmission Transmission Capital
1 1 100% International Public Partnerships
Rough OFTO Capital Services Services
• In spring 2018, RWE and E.ON to E.ON, with E.ON now owning
Figure 28: Operational and under
construction portfolio ownership
GW
Japanese corporate Marubeni exited announced a big asset swap. a majority shareholding of 76.8%
the market by selling its shares in in innogy in exchange for giving 16
2019 saw a 40% increase in offshore the Gunfleet Sands wind farms. This • In 2019, approval was given RWE a 16.7% share in E.ON. In
wind transactions on the previous year. made way for a new entrant, Japanese by all national and European 2020, as part of the overall deal,
The most significant market change energy company JERA, which bought competition authorities. RWE will also receive innogy’s 14
was the merger and complex asset into Gunfleet Sands. This continues renewables and gas storage
swap of German utilities E.ON and RWE. the 2018 pattern of Japanese power • In autumn 2019, RWE transferred businesses, as well as a stake
This makes RWE the second biggest companies buying into UK offshore its majority stake in innogy to E.ON. in the Austrian energy company 12
owner of offshore wind farms in the projects with the intention of using that In return, it got E.ON’s renewables Kelag. RWE has founded a fourth
UK with just over 1GW of generating experience in the emerging Japanese business, along with minority stakes subsidiary, RWE Renewables,
capacity. E.ON has transferred almost offshore wind sector. in the German Gundremmingen and which integrates both parts of 10
all of its offshore wind assets to RWE Emsland nuclear power stations. the renewables business (innogy
(see opposite) but retains a direct stake Danish utility Ørsted is at the front and E.ON).
in Rampion. It also owned a majority of the pack with 3.7GW of under • The offshore wind farms in the 8
share in innogy as of December 2019. construction or generating capacity. UK transferred to RWE include: • This transaction has enabled
In February 2019, Ørsted entered into Robin Rigg East and West, Scroby the two energy companies, both
A significant investment was made a ten year corporate Power Purchase Sands, Humber Gateway, a stake headquartered in Essen in Germany, 6
in the summer by Macquarie’s UK Green Agreement (PPA) to supply electricity in London Array and part of its to refocus: E.ON now has a clear
Investment Group when it purchased from Race Bank offshore wind farm stake in Rampion offshore wind focus on energy networks and
40% of East Anglia ONE from Scottish to utility Northumbrian Water, the farm (about 0.5GW in total). customer solutions, while RWE 4
Power Renewables and parent company first of its kind in the UK. Further is becoming a broadly diversified
Iberdrola. This £1.63bn transaction took announcements followed in 2019. • innogy has ownership interests power producer with a large
place whilst the 714MW site was under This is a sector which will likely grow in the following UK sites: Rhyl portfolio of renewable generating 2
construction, with final commissioning as subsidy opportunity declines but it Flats, Greater Gabbard, Gwynt assets alongside a conventional
due late 2020. This propelled UK Green remains to be seen if there are enough y Môr, Galloper and Triton Knoll energy generation portfolio.
Investment Group to be the fourth corporates of suitable risk profile to (about 0.9GW). This didn’t change The asset swap makes RWE the
0
biggest owner of UK offshore wind farms satisfy the growth pipeline needed. in 2019 but innogy’s beneficial world’s second largest company
Dec Dec Dec Dec
ownership was transferred from in offshore wind, with a stated aim 2016 2017 2018 2019
German parent company RWE of being carbon neutral by 2040.
Financial investors
Other investors
Figure 27: Transactional activities completed in 2019
East Anglia ONE Iberdrola (Scottish Power) 100% UK GIG 40% £1.63bn Sep-19
In 2019, the UK became the first major Our strategic enabling actions Over the course of 2019 we worked
Decommissioning The Blyth project has also set The road to Net Zero is paved with recycled steel
the first offshore turbines installed in The project demonstrated that good
the UK. Current models are four times planning and efficient execution can
more powerful and installed in their enable cost-effective asset removal and
hundreds on the UK’s continental shelf. restoration of the natural environment.
Additionally, the efforts that have gone Figure 31: Maximum copper content by steel product category (Wt% copper in steel)
It’s hard to understate the game-changing into the end of life planning at Blyth have
role these two turbines have played in enabled extensive re-use and recycling
wind energy moving offshore. The first of materials to minimise landfill use.
to be deployed anywhere in the North Reinforcing steel bar (concrete) 0.40
Sea, they kick-started the remarkable Blyth offshore wind farm has
progress of offshore wind in UK waters; shown that renewable energy can Structural steel beam (construction) 0.12
now home to over 2,000 turbines and be harnessed in a truly renewable
Commercial steel plates (refrigerators, cabinets) 0.10
set to play an increasingly vital role in fashion, crucial in the future as more
our nation’s clean energy transition. wind turbines are decommissioned.
Fine wire 0.07
Source: How Will Copper Contamination Constrain Future Global Steel Recycling? Daehn et al. (2017)
30 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019 31 OFFSHORE WIND OPERATIONAL REPORT 2019