4 days ago
Chinese wind farm owner to build 900ft turbines off coast of Scotland
A Chinese state-owned company is to install Britain's largest wind turbines after plans were revealed for dozens of 900ft structures off the Scottish coast.
SDIC Power, which is based in Beijing, is planning to install the machines through its European subsidiary Red Rock Renewables at the proposed Inch Cape Wind Farm. It has joined with the Irish electricity company ESB Engery to pursue the venture.
Once complete, the site will be one of the UK's largest and most visible, lying just 11 miles off the coast of Angus, where it will be clearly visible from tourist towns like Arbroath and St Andrews.
It will also be among the most controversial – the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has warned that it will threaten UK populations of puffins, northern gannets, black-legged kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills.
Details of the scheme, which was originally planned with smaller machines, emerged with the latest financial results from Danish turbine manufacturer Vestas, which is building the giant new turbines.
The turbines will measure 919ft from base to blade tip – five to six times taller than Nelson's Column. It means they will be visible across a radius of more than 35 miles, including from St Andrews, whose 'Old Course' is renowned as the home of golf.
Donald Trump, who has named the Old Course as amongst his five favourite courses in the world, has long protested at the expansion of wind farms along Scotland's east coast, including one built just offshore from his Aberdeen links.
John Constable, director of the UK charity Renewable Energy Foundation, said: 'The sheer gargantuan scale of offshore wind projects such as Inch Cape is a good index of their underlying risk, which is very large indeed.
'However, that risk is not being taken by the overseas investors, but has been loaded onto UK electricity consumers. A future administration will have to unwind these contracts, however embarrassing and painful that might be.'
Much of the UK profits will come from the Government's lucrative Contracts for Difference, which was awarded to Inchcape Offshore Power, the subsidiary set up by Red Rock and ESB.
These will guarantee its investors, including the Chinese government-owned SDIC, a minimum price of up to £78 per megawatt hour for the power generated
Red Rock Renewables is based in Edinburgh, but its website says that it is a subsidiary of SDIC Power Holdings, which is owned by China's State Development and Investment Corporation, which is, in turn, owned by the Chinese government.
Inchcape Power – the Red Rock and ESB venture – confirmed it had just installed the offshore substation and foundations for the 72 turbines it will install over the coming months.
Xiaomeng Chen, the chief executive of Red Rock, said that the wind farm would generate almost five terawatt hours of energy each year or enough to power half the homes in Scotland. He said: 'It's fantastic to see the project making such strong progress.'
However, a spokesman for the National Trust for Scotland said it had already raised concerns about the Inch Cape, saying it could kill 'thousands of seabirds every year'.
'The Trust's St Abb's Head National Nature Reserve was predicted to be affected by these windfarms, with already vulnerable populations of kittiwakes and razorbills at risk of additional mortality,' the Trust said.
The Scottish Fishermen's Federation also objects to the windfarm, partly because fishing boats will be effectively excluded from a prime fishing ground, but also over fears that the damage done to the seabed would impact fish stocks.
Elspeth Macdonald, the chief executive of the federation, said: 'Our concern is about their impact on fishermen's livelihoods, which we think count for more than someone feeling upset about their view.'
An RSPB Scotland spokesperson said: 'RSPB Scotland considered that the Inch Cape project, in combination with other offshore wind farms, is predicted to have substantial negative impacts on protected seabird populations, in particular Gannets and Kittiwakes.'
