The London Evening Standard reports that even if the plan to build 270 turbines in the Thames estuary off the Essex and Kent shoreline passes a labyrinthine planning procedure, there is no guarantee the GBP1.5 billion project will get built.
The newspaper says that developers E.ON, Shell and Danish wind specialists Energi2 are concerned about rising commodity costs, particularly steel, that threaten the economic viability of the 1,000MW windfarm. Upfront fees that the consortium would need to pay National Grid to ensure the farm is connected to the UK power network are also a major hurdle.
The news marks another dent in the much-vaunted concept of offshore windfarms. Cost of connection to the network has already proved to be a far bigger obstacle to schemes proceeding than was hoped, and incentives from the government, such as the renewables obligation, are doing little to ease the burden. E.ON, for example, already has two projects – at Robin Rigg and Scarweather – facing considerable delays if not outright postponement.
