Yahoo Finance Mammoth wind farm planned for middle of the North Sea
A giant wind farm built around an artificial island in the North Sea could be powering homes in Britain in the near future.
Dutch energy network TenneT has identified Dogger Bank, 125km (78 miles) off the East Yorkshire coast, as a potential site.
Advanced plans outline how the power hub would send electricity over a long-distance cable to the UK and Netherlands, and later to Belgium, Germany, and Denmark, potentially reaching 100 million people.
TenneT has teamed up with Energinet of Denmark with a view to develop a series of “Power Link Islands” that would dot the North Sea, providing hubs for scores of wind turbines sunk into the sea bed and generating electricity for tens of thousands of homes across Europe.
“Building one or more artificial islands in the middle of the North Sea sounds like a science fiction project, but it could actually be a very efficient and affordable way for the North Sea countries to meet the future demand for more renewable electricity,” said Torben Glar Nielsen, CTO of Energinet.
Dogger Bank has been identified as the potential site for the first Power Link island, which would spread to about 6sq km. Its relative shallow waters and optimal wind conditions make it a strong contender, says TenneT.
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“The generated wind energy can be distributed and transmitted via direct-current connections to all countries bordering the North Sea: the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway and Belgium,” it says.
“Transmission cables will simultaneously function as interconnectors between the energy markets of the aforementioned countries.
“Besides transmitting wind power to the connected countries, these ‘wind connectors’ will enable the countries to trade electricity.”
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Depending on environmental impact studies, money and support from European partners, the first of the Power Link islands could be developed by 2035 and renewable energy supplied to millions of European homes by 2050.
TenneT has estimated the hub will cost €1.5bn to construct but will need the financial input from other operators such as the UK’s National Grid to help build the cable network.
The potential, however, is huge: TenneT thinks the project could handle wind farms with a capacity of 30GW, more than twice today’s total installed offshore wind power across the whole of Europe.
