Wind pointer to future direction

European nations are committed to rolling out renewable energy on a grand scale. Ambitious projects, such as the London Array wind farm, offer opportunities for interested parties like Masdar.

W The London Array wind farm is poised to become the world's largest operational offshore wind farm. London Array Limited

The wind of change blew through the British capital last month as the London Array sprang into life after a 17-month construction period, as the first turbines started feeding electricity into the grid.

The facility is poised to become the world's largest operational offshore wind farm. Seen from land, the towering turbines are faint in the waters of the Thames Estuary.

When drawing closer to the vast collection of towers propping up their elegant triangles of rotor blades, however, inconsistencies in the symmetry of the 245 square kilometre array become apparent.

Seventy odd years ago, during the Battle of Britain, swarms of German bombers would stream up the estuary by night, using the reflected moonlight of the river to guide them to London.

Their advance was not uncontested and the seabed of the coast is still littered with unexploded bombs and the wrecks of aeroplanes and ships alike. While the turbines are arranged in long, straight lines that cross the choppy waters, several of the 147 metre tall structures fall out of line, where construction teams have avoided the dangerous reminders of past conflict.

The array's inconsistencies hint at Europe's troubled history but the wind farm is equally symbolic of the continent's future.

Like all members of the European Union, the United Kingdom is committed to rolling out renewable energy capacity on a grand scale.

According to the EU energy directive, members have to derive 20 per cent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020 - but most countries have set further targets beyond that.

Such ambitions present opportunities for interested parties, and Abu Dhabi's Masdar is one of those. The remit of the clean energy company, owned by Mubadala Development, goes beyond delivering on the emirate's own renewable energy target.

Much like its parent company, Masdar is an investor and it is scouring the world for opportunities. Mubadala is a strategic investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government.

"Our approach to clean energy is primarily driven by commercial considerations," says Bader Al Lamki, the director at Masdar Clean Energy.

Masdar owns 20 per cent of the €2.2 billion (Dh10.29bn) array; Denmark's Dong Energy holds a 50 per cent stake, Germany's E.on the remaining 30 per cent.

Of a total of 175 turbines, 151 have now been erected. The first 10 were connected to the grid this month and a few have started delivering electricity.

The owners hope to bring 10 further turbines on-stream each week and have all structures producing electricity by early next year. Once complete, the wind farm will generate a total of 630 megawatts, some 20km from the shoreline, enough to supply 470,000 households. Plans to add a further 240MW in a second stage are awaiting approval by the government.

Regardless of this possible upgrade, the London Array will not hold the title of being the world's largest wind farm for long as a new phase in the UK's development of wind energy will begin by the middle of the decade.

In what is known as the "third round", the government plans to develop the potential for 33 gigawatts of offshore wind identified in 2009 in the UK offshore energy strategic environmental assessment.

The new wind farms will comfortably dwarf the London Array and will add to the 8GW developed in the first two rounds.

While its time at the top is limited, the array is a pointer to the future.

"With its 630MW, the London Array project will be the first of the next generation of larger offshore wind farms," says Benj Sykes, the country manager at Dong Energy.

It is also a testament to the financial appeal of wind power. While many wind turbine producers are struggling in the face of tough competition from China, investors such as Masdar are not complaining.

"The London Array development is an example of the true potential and commercial viability of renewable energy," says Sultan Al Jaber, the chief executive of Masdar.

This commercial viability rests on subsidies for electricity from green sources, as the technology for both wind and solar power is not yet cheap enough to compete with fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, or nuclear power.

In Europe, the commitment to renewables is firm but it is not beyond wavering. Germany, the undisputed leader in the deployment of solar power, this year reduced the tariffs received for solar power, to the dismay of panel producers.

As the EU continues to roil in the sovereign debt crisis, further cuts to green subsidies cannot be ruled out.

Masdar has invested in Europe's clean energy sector with solar plants in Spain and a plant and a panel producer in Germany.

The company is unconcerned about potential storm clouds over the continent's green energy finances.

"The demand for renewable energy is still there. There are opportunities in emerging markets and we continue to explore those," says Mr Al Lamki.

One region in which Masdar will seek to expand is the Middle East, where renewable energy is being taken seriously after years of uninterest.

Governments have realised power generation needs to diversify away from fossil fuels, as spiralling demand is exhausting natural gas and crude oil resources and diminishing export returns.

The biggest new market is Saudi Arabia, which wants to generate 37GW of electricity from solar power by 2035.

Masdar has taken note of the new enthusiasm in the region.

"There are projects under discussion in Morocco, in Jordan, the Sultanate of Oman and also the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," said Mr Al Jaber last month.