The Kentish Flats Wind Farm

Can Wind power be used to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels within the UK?

Offshore wind has become a fairly large contributor to the generation of renewable energy in the UK. The Kentish Flats are a good example of offshore wind providing a renewable source of electricity for the local areas (Whitstable and Herne Bay).

The main objectives of the wind farm are to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses and to effect positive climate change.

This report will not only assess weather or not wind power can realistically decrease our dependency upon fossil and non renewable fuel sources but also the potential of wind power and how effective it could be.

The project at Kentish Flats was developed by GREP, a subsidiary of a Danish wind turbine manufacturer NEG Micon (Now Vestas). In November 2003 the project was sold to the Danish power company Elsam.

Elsam had more than 25 years of experience within wind energy projects. The purchase is part of Elsam's strategy to become an international company by establishing energy plants on a sustainable and long-term basis around the world.

The site consists of 30 wind turbines that produce up to 3 MW of electricity totalling the output of the site at 90 MW. Currently the project is three years into its 20 year lifespan. The project will displace an estimated 4.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over its 20-year life time.

With the creation of the Kyoto protocol and the UNFCCC (Framework Convention on Climate Change), developed countries are required to reduce their green house gas emissions below levels agreed within the treaties. These targets must be met between 2008 and 2012. the British Government has set targets for the generation of electricity from renewable sources at 15 % by the year 2015. It is the aim of the British government to meet these targets using both onshore and offshore wind power.
The need for renewable energy projects has been recognised at both regional and local levels. The Government Office of the South-East has set a target of 6.6 % of the region's current electricity demand be met by renewable sources by 2010.

Offshore wind farms are considered the best means of achieving these aims, with the seas off the north Kent having the greatest potential for the development of off shore wind projects.

The idyllic sustainable wind farm would be able to operate for and unlimited period of time and generate enough electricity to power an appropriate amount of homes relative to the size of the wind farm. Unfortunately in reality these projects are not 100% efficient and do have limited lifespan as eventually the systems degrade and need to be replaced.
Offshore wind is very good as a source of renewable energy and from a sustainability point of view it definitely fits the bill, but it does fall short in some areas the main issue being output (compared to non renewable sources) and longevity. Theses issues are offset by the reduction of emissions and the reduction of reliance on fossil fuels and the like.

There are many renewable alternatives to wind power, tidal, solar, hydroelectric and geothermal to name a few, but they have not been as successful as wind power, be it offshore or onshore. The Kentish flats project is a pilot project that has been very successful, alternate sources have yet to receive the funding and approval that wind power projects have since the inception and implementation of the Scroby sands and Kentish flats projects. Their success has resulted in the approval and development of many more projects them most notable being the London array and the Thanet offshore wind farm.

These projects have also seen a the V90 wind turbine (built by Vestas) come into its own and is the most widely used wind turbine in the UK to date due to its high output, and low cost per KWH. Vestas wind turbines are some of the most widely used in the world, “Vestas has installed over 33,500 wind turbines worldwide ”.

The only alternatives to this kind of large scale development are tidal power sites, the biggest proposed project would be the Severn barrage, though it has not yet been put into production reports and evaluations have begun with the setting up of the Sustainable Development Commission on the 1st October 2007.
Unfortunately projects of this size have far more ecological issues and come into direct conflict with the sustainability aspect of such developments, though the output may be greater.

The political ramifications of renewable energy sources such as the Kentish Flats are massive, but project like this will not only effect changes on the local area, but potentially the ecology of the planet. Its successes will change the way policy on almost every aspect of our lives is determined, be it housing, transport, education etc the issue of renewable energy and sustainability will start to play an increasingly more vital part on political decisions.
There is already evidence of the effect of “green thinking”; no longer can people and their governments turn a blind eye to the state of the planet, as seen on a national scale with the forming of the UNFCCC and the signing of the Kyoto protocol. After adopting more and more eco friendly power sources governments will have to shift their alliances both political and commercial.
This brings us onto the economical and financial effects of renewable energy. With the shift of government support and the adoption of green policy, companies and organisations (especially those in the petroleum and oil based industries) will find their support, both financial and political being moved to companies with more sustainability orientated and eco friendly agendas.

By this UK wind power has already seen a great increase in support and funding, both from the government and the commercial sector. Companies such as E ON, Ecocitry, Centrica, Norfolk Offshore Wind/EDF, npower have already set up offshore wind sites and continue to develop new ones.

As mentioned before the Kentish Flats site was one of the contributing factors that resulted in the approval and commencement of the London array project, which serves to advance the cause of sustainable developments and eco friendly energy.
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As you can see wind power can and has already been used to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels and as a result has been able to displace emissions of greenhouse gasses and is a small step towards effecting positive climate change.

Though it is still early days offshore wind in the UK has already reduced our reliance on non renewable energy though it is not yet ready to replace non renewable sources, wind power has been a significant contributor to alleviating reliance on non renewable sources.

As you can see there has been a steady increase on energy derived from renewable sources.

The ideal goal however is not to simply reduce the UK’s reliance on fossil Fuels (though it is possible through the use of wind power), it would be to completely replace not only the UK’s dependence on non renewable energy, but the world, this may seem unattainable at the moment but small steps like the reduction of our reliance on non renewable energy not only have a direct ecological benefit but political, ideological, economical and financial effects.

Overall this project has had much success, and has achieved much more than originally intended; hopefully it will be the first step of many toward correcting the UK and maybe even the Worlds’ problem of clean renewable energy.

References

http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
http://www.eon-uk.com/481.aspx
http://www.warwickenergy.com/thanet.htm
http://www.vestas.com/en/wind-power-solutions/wind-turbines/3.0-mw.aspx
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/tidal.html
http://www.restats.org.uk/electricity.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2006/dec/19/energy.greenpolitics
http://www.kentishflats.co.uk/page.dsp?area=1391
http://www.bwea.com/index.html
http://www.see-stats.org/
http://www.ukqaa.org.uk/PowerStation.html#statistics
http://www.eon-uk.com/generation/kingsnorth.aspx