Giant wind turbine heads North

Oct 5 2007 by Dave Black, The Journal

A NEW generation of ultra-powerful offshore wind turbines is to be developed in a North-East port in a move which strengthens the region’s growing reputation as a centre for renewable energy technology.

American company Clipper Windpower is to use leading edge facilities in Blyth, Northumberland, to engineer, build and test a prototype 7.5 megawatt offshore turbine – which would be the biggest in the world so far.

Just one of the 150m-high structures could potentially provide enough electricity to power more than 5,500 homes and offset more than 32m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The largest offshore turbine at present is 5 megawatts.

Clipper Windpower has also announced that it will base its European centre of excellence for offshore wind technology in Blyth, which already has both onshore and offshore wind farms and is regarded as a leading centre for the development of green energy.

Yesterday, business and enterprise secretary John Hutton, visiting the company’s headquarters in California, hailed the decision as further evidence that the UK is fast becoming a magnet for renewable energy investment.

The move, which has been labelled Project Britannia and is supported by a £5m investment package by regional development agency One NorthEast, will initially create about 25 skilled engineering jobs in Blyth.

Clipper Windpower will use world-leading blade testing and manufacturing facilities at the town’s North-East Centre of Excellence for New and Renewable Energy (NaREC) for its pioneering turbine development work.

It is the culmination of two years’ collaboration between the company, One NorthEast, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and UK Trade and Investment to bring the project to the region.

Securing the investment from Clipper Windpower – which has offices across the USA, Mexico and mainland Europe – is seen as major coup for the region and for NaREC.

It is hoped the prototype project could lead to further contracts to eventually build the new generation of wind turbines in the region, possibly creating several hundred jobs in a multi-billion dollar global industry.

Yesterday, James Dehlsen, chairman and chief executive of Clipper Windpower, said: “We are extremely pleased to have One NorthEast working alongside us in support of the Britannia Project. We look forward to a strong relationship with One NorthEast and NaREC, whose excellent engineering, testing and development capabilities will play a major role in the project’s delivery.”

Ian Williams, One NorthEast director of business and industry, said last night: “Securing this substantial commitment from a company of the stature of Clipper Windpower is fantastic news for our region and confirms us as a major UK hub for renewable energy technology development and investment.”

NaREC chief executive Andrew Mill said: “We are looking forward to working with Clipper as they develop their Britannia turbine. They have been attracted to Blyth for the same reason we ourselves are based in the area; it has a long history in heavy engineering and technology development, not to mention the fact that the Blyth Offshore wind turbines were one of the earliest pilot offshore wind projects in the UK.”

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Growing company in green power

CLIPPER Windpower is a rapidly growing company engaged in wind energy technology, turbine manufacturing and wind project development.

It has offices in the USA, Mexico, Denmark and the UK and a 330,000sq ft manufacturing and assembly plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The company designs advanced wind turbines, manufactures its 2.5 megawatt Liberty turbine and actively develops wind power generating projects in the Americas and Europe.

Yesterday’s news is a boost after the North-East missed out on £1bn last month with the announcement that the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) – the location for the Government’s 10-year plan to tackle climate change – would be going to the Midlands instead.

A North-East consortium had hoped the ETI would be based on Newcastle University’s campus, bringing £1bn in research funding.

While the ETI money will also fund research at other locations, most of this is now expected to go to the Midlands.