THE recent article ‘SeaEnergy tie-up with university to find ways of
cutting offshore wind costs’ on 8th August warrants further comment.
There should be an awareness that the revenue costs of an offshore wind
farm are relatively small compared to the total cost borne by customers for
the energy from such generators.
As well as the capital and revenue costs, all wind farms impose costs on
the customers caused both by their geographical location and their
My own studies show that when account is taken of these system integration
costs, the levelised cost of energy to the customer is some £260/MWh
compared to the cost from an optimum programme of gas turbines and nuclear
of about £60/MWh.
Even if the revenue costs of offshore wind were zero, the cost to the
customer would be about £200/MWh.
It would require both the revenue costs and the capital cost to be zero
before energy from off-shore wind would be competitive with gas turbines
and nuclear.
Colin Gibson
(Power Network Director, National Grid Group, 1993-1997)
Auchengarth,
Cormiston,
Biggar
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