Windfarm extension work starts next week

Vattenfall is poised to start work on a £165m extension to the Kentish Flats offshore wind farm, which will see 15 new turbines installed off the Kent coast by the end of next year. The Swedish utility today confirmed it would start offshore construction work next week on the latest phase of the development, preparing the seabed to lay 30 kilometres of cables from the wind farm to the shore in Herne Bay.

Once complete, the project is expected to increase the current capacity of the 90MW Kentish Flats offshore wind farm by more than 50 per cent to a total of 139.5MW. Matthew Green, Vattenfall project director for the construction of Kentish Flats Extension said:

“Kentish Flats Extension was consented in spring 2013 and since then we have been planning, organising and contracting. We’re now ready to go and by this time next year we plan to be generating low carbon power from all 15 wind turbines. Building an offshore wind farm is no easy task; that is why it is one of the most exciting engineering challenges around today.”

The company plans to start installing foundations in spring 2015, and will then install each of the Vestas 3.3MW wind turbines by the end of July.

The announcement represents a boost to an offshore wind industry that has been hit in recent weeks by warnings that a number of proposed projects are “grinding to a halt” amid concerns over the transition from the government’s current subsidy regime to its new support mechanism.

Business Green 15th Oct 2014

How to build a windfarm

Here’s an excellent little piece from the BBC, explaining how windfarms happen – it’s not nearly as easy as you might think. It’s worth zooming in on The Workers in the first picture, just to get a clear idea of just how BIG these turbines are… Click to see more.

TDC seeks Regeneration chief. GSOH essential.

District council chiefs have begun the hunt for a new regeneration manager to oversee their ambitious plans to redevelop Thanet. The new post was advertised in the national press last week after bosses failed to find an internal candidate for the job.

Projects such as Dreamland, Manston airport, Ramsgate harbour and the London Array wind farm will dominate the council’s new vision for the area. London headhunter firm Prospectus is conducting the search for candidates to lead this key area, which commands a salary of between £50,000-£75,000, depending on the recruit.

The new officer will be responsible for the council’s development strategy, funding for projects and physical and social regeneration. Sources close to the recruitment process describe the schedule for Thanet’s development as ambitious, and bosses are keen to attract a candidate with a proven track record to carry the Thanet 2030 vision.

The new officer will be partly judged on the successful completion of the project.

Initial interviews will be conducted between July 14 to 18, with final interviews with chief executive Sue McGonigal on July 20 to 21, in advance of an appointment on August 2.

IoT Gazette 24th Jun 2011

 

Windfarm extension: Vattenfall says…

Kentish Flats Extension

Vattenfall has started a discussion and consultation with the local community, local authorities and statutory consultees regarding the extension of Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm. It would like to extend the 30-turbine scheme by between 10 and 17 turbines and if 3 megawatt (MW) turbines are used this would give an additional installed total capacity of between 30 and 51MW.

If consented and built Vattenfall expects the extension to generate between 90,000 megawatt hours and just over 150,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of green electricity every year, which is equivalent to the total annual electricity needs of between 20,000 UK households and 35,000 UK households*.

If extended, Kentish Flats, with between 120 and 141MW total installed capacity would be expected to generate between 350,00MWh and just over 430,000MWh of green electricity every year, which is equivalent to the total annual electricity needs of between 82,000 UK households and 96,000 UK households.

Due to its size the proposal will be considered and consented by the Infrastructure Planning Commission following an extensive community consultation with the people of Kent. Discussions with the IPC have already taken place and if you would like to find out more about the consultation process please visit:
IPC- Kentish Flats extension – Pre-application (new window)
IPC – planning commission (new window)

The zone that Vattenfall is considering to develop the extension in is more than 7km from shore and covers nearly 8 sq km. More information will follow shortly about Vattenfall’s plans, the community consultation and how the public can effectively engage with Vattenfall ahead of a planning application sometime in 2011.

In May this year Vattenfall was offered the opportunity to extend both Kentish Flats and Thanet Offshore Wind Farms by The Crown Estate, which leases the seabed on behalf of the UK Government to wind farm developers like Vattenfall. Vattenfall assessed the feasibility of both projects and has decided to seek consent from the IPC for an extension to Kentish Flats only.

The Crown Estate (new window)

The 90MW Kentish Flats has been generating green electricity since 2005. Find out more about this project by visiting:
Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm (www.vattenfall.com, new window)

*This is calculated in the following way:
Number of hours in the year: 8760
Installed capacity: 30 to 51MW
Average industry capacity factor for offshore wind: 35%
Average annual UK household electricity consumption: 4,478 kilowatt hours (kWh)
For example: (8760 x 30 x 35%) x 1000 = 91,980,000kWh divided by 4,478 = 20,540 homes.

Windfarm extension: your opinion

The Vattenfall roadshow came to town, well the King’s Hall, to tell all-comers about the proposed extra turbines at the Kentish Flats windfarm, 5 miles off the Herne Bay coast.

They lease the seabed from the Crown Estate, and their lease is measured in megawatts (MW) of electricity output. The proposed extension permits 51MW of production. If they install turbines that are the same size as the current ones, they will need 17 new turbines. Their planning application would allow then to install bigger turbines, but there would have to be fewer of them, to stay within the 51MW limit.

The Vattenfall guy I spoke to said that Vattenfall were just keeping their options open as to what kind/size of turbine to install when they start construction – in 2014, according to the plan. I assume their eventual decision will be guided by profit.

See, print or download a copy of the Public Opinion Survey here. Or fill it in online at Vattenfall’s website here.

Windfarm extension consultation

Vattenfall is in the process of putting together an application to add up to 17 wind turbines to the existing 30 turbines at the five-year old Kentish Flats wind farm.  It’s really important that the community and all those with an interest in our proposal to extend Kentish Flats get involved and tell us what they think.

From 31 January until 4 March 2011 Vattenfall is conducting a community consultation regarding the proposed extension which is located off the coast near Herne Bay and Whitstable.

There will be two public consultation events in February in Herne Bay and Whitstable and we encourage as many people as possible to come along:

Wednesday 23 February 2pm – 8pm, Kings Hall, Beacon Hill, Herne Bay
Thursday 24 February 2pm – 8pm, Whitstable Castle, Tower Hill, Whitstable

Airport gets new radar system – to prevent mistakes

Manston Airport is to have a new multi-million pound radar system to ensure offshore wind turbines are not mistaken for aircraft. Thales, a global aerospace technology company, is to replace the existing radar and air traffic display system.

The new system is designed to present a clearer picture to air traffic controllers and boost reliability and safety. Rotating wind turbine blades can cause so-called radar clutter that resembles the picture from a moving aircraft. The situation is expected to worsen with the development of wind farms in the Thames Estuary off Thanet, including Thanet Offshore and London Array.

The new system will be linked to a transponder zone over the wind farms. Charles Buchanan, airport chief executive, said the state-of-the-art system would allow aircraft to continue to fly safely and efficiently over the wind farms. The airport is owned by Infratil, a New Zealand company. Mr Buchanan added:

“This major investment demonstrates our owner’s commitment to the future of Manston Airport and ensures the continued operation of the airport alongside the development of the offshore wind farms. As the growth of wind energy increases, it’s vital that the nationally-important industries of aviation and renewables develop together to support the UK’s recovering economy.”

David Lockwood, head of Thales UK’s air operations business, said:

“The Thales radar is ideal for Manston due to the large offshore wind farms that lie close to the airport. This contract builds upon the successful Thales ATM systems, at Inverness, Belfast International, and Cardiff airports, and reinforces our position as a leading supplier of radar and display systems to regional airports and the UK civil ATM market.”

kentonline 7th Jan 2011

 

Thales supplies surveillance radars to Kent airport

Thales has signed a contract with Manston, Kent’s International Airport for the programme management, supply and installation of co-mounted primary surveillance and monopulse mode-S secondary surveillance radars, complete with Eurocat-C1 air traffic control (ATC) system.

Manston currently operates with a legacy, raw video, primary surveillance radar (PSR) and procures a feed of monopulse secondary surveillance radar (MSSR) data – but due to the ongoing development of three large offshore windfarms in the Thames Estuary, the legacy PSR detects returns from the turbines that are displayed as significant areas of clutter.

Thales will deliver its STAR 20002 and co-mounted RSM 970 S3 mode-S MSSR radar equipment, which are solid-state radars that will feed data into the Thales Eurocat-C radar display system. These systems will enter into operation before the end of 2011.

TheEngineer.co.uk

Residents rally on night flights at public meeting in Chatham House School

Clipping: thisiskent

RESIDENTS against plans for regular night flights at Manston airport made their anger felt at the first public meeting on the issue. The hall at Chatham House School was packed for the meeting called by Ramsgate Town Council on Monday night. It gave people the chance to air their views on an application by the owners of Manston airport, Infratil, to allow scheduled flights at night. The application was made in September to Thanet council.

The meeting, chaired by Ramsgate mayor David Green, featured speeches from Kim Gibson of the Ramsgate Alliance of Residents’ Associations (Rara) and Susan Kennedy of the No to Night Flights campaign. Mrs Kennedy, who works for the East Kent NHS Trust, argued the benefit of jobs created by extra night flights was minimal and outweighed by the negative impact on the area’s tourism trade. She added night flights would have a bad effect on residents’ health:

“There is a mounting body of evidence which shows the serious negative impact on people’s health and children’s education. Noise isn’t just annoying, it is dangerous, it can even be deadly.”

Rara secretary Mrs Gibson also cited health dangers in relation to night flights and argued the airport had been disregarding public safety issues:

“Infratil chief executive Charles Buchanan stated at a KIACC (Kent International Airport Consultative Committee) meeting on September 17 that due to the wind farm becoming live and causing a cluster on the radar it made it very difficult to land aircraft safely. The secondary surveillance radar which will alleviate these problems will not be ready until November 2011, so for the next 13 months we are living with the possibility of a plane coming down.”

The floor was also opened to Ramsgate residents who raised numerous objections to the introduction of night flights. Ronald Blake, who described himself as a “long suffering resident”, said that for the people of Thanet to pay for an “expensive consultation” over night flights is “like a condemned man buying the bullet he will be executed with”.

The town council sent a letter to Mr Buchanan on October 20 inviting him to attend the meeting but he declined, citing “prior business commitments”. Thanet South MP Laura Sandys also sent her apologies saying she had to be in Westminster. The only member of Thanet council’s Airport Working Party – which will make recommendations on the application – to speak was Councillor Mike Harrison, who assured residents of the group’s impartiality, saying he had “no axe to grind one way or the other”.

Ramsgate town councillors are scheduled to vote on the issue during a meeting on Wednesday, prior to a 12-week public consultation. Thanet council will not be expected to vote on night flights until next year.

By andrew woodman andrew.woodman@krnmedia.co.uk

Windfarm extension is planned

HB Times 21st Oct 2010