After developers of Galloper Offshore Wind Farm confirmed that they would place the project’s O&M base at the Port of Lowestoft, local businesses welcomed this move, highlighting the importance of the project for the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft companies.
Andy Wood, Chairman of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership , said that companies in the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft (New Anglia) Enterprise Zone can benefit greatly from this major O&M hub since it would bring many investment opportunities. “This could provide exciting supply chain opportunities for companies which are looking to expand and grow,” he added.
Is the Galloper Offshore Wind project viable enough to progress?
There is no fear for the New Anglia Enterprise Zone, as it is part of the East of England Energy Zone (EEEZ), and will benefit from multiple energy projects to be located in the area, including East Anglia Array and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farms, which will also have their O&M bases in Great Yarmouth.
Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm has been labeled as “ provisionally affordable ” by the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change.
On the other hand, Galloper Offshore Wind Farm has not been given this clearance. This brought SSE, which is jointly developing this multi-billion pound project with RWE Innogy UK, to a decision to revise the offshore wind project, with a possible result of investment cuts.
This puts a question mark over the RWE-SSE joint development, because RWE had said that it might reduce its stake in the Galloper project from 50% to 25% a few days prior to SSE’s decision. The company stated that the offshore wind policy uncertainty in the UK is one of the main reasons for this action and that it had already put the decision under consideration.
Developers have already cut the initially proposed size of Galloper Offshore Wind Farm by one third, in order to reach a scale of the project that will be feasible under the current energy market conditions.
Going along the same path, RWE recently terminated its Atlantic Array offshore wind proposal, saying that its development is not viable at this time.
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Offshore WIND Staff, February 3, 2014; Image: galloperwindfarm