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EVENT FEATURE


CONCRETE SECTOR UNDER STARTER’S ORDERS FOR ROUND THREE OFFSHORE PROGRAMME


WHEN IT COMES TO REALISING THE OPPORTUNITIES OFFERED BY THE GROWTH IN OFFSHORE WINDFARMS, THE CONCRETE SECTOR IS “UNDER STARTER’S ORDERS”.


CONCRETE OFFSHORE WIND CONFERENCE


The recent 2012 Concrete Offshore Wind conference, hosted by MPA The Concrete Centre, learnt that the future for concrete gravity foundations is looking very positive. The progress and development of industry gravity foundation construction and installation solutions combined with the growing recognition of concrete performance and environmental benefits means that the concrete sector is ready to realise the opportunities presented by The Crown Estates Round 3 leasing programme.


SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS AND INCREASING RECOGNITION Opening the conference, John Bingham of Royal HaskoningDHV and Chairman for the Interest Group for Gravity Foundations – Offshore Wind, highlighted how the scene is now set for concrete gravity foundations to help deliver the full potential of offshore wind renewable energy. Significant progress has been made on the development of a wide range of foundation solutions that are cost effective, require minimum maintenance and offer long-term performance. Increasingly, these solutions are being recognised as offering the best environmental choice. As a result, the renewable energy industry is taking the option of concrete gravity foundations far more seriously.


REDUCING COSTS The UK is already the world’s largest offshore wind market, and as Ian Bryan of The Crown Estate explained, that lead will be cemented by the potential of 32GW generated from Round 3 offshore windfarms in addition to the 8GW of energy from previous rounds. There is steady progress being made on gaining planning consents, on the development


and delivery of regulatory frameworks and on reducing the cost of offshore energy to £100/Mwh by 2020 which will make the cost of offshore wind energy comparable with other low carbon technologies. All this was good news for the concrete sector which was further underlined by Bryan stating that: “The prognosis for steel bases is low. The supply chain cannot match demand. Whereas, the concrete sector is making a very real case for concrete foundation solutions that is increasingly being taken on board by the renewables industry.”


WIND – THE MAIN DRIVER The need for the potential of Round 3 to be realised is underlined by the fact that currently renewables supply 10% of UK electricity. By 2020 the target is 35%. “The main driver for growth in renewables will be wind” said Nick Medic of RenewableUK. “You cannot have a low carbon energy supply without it.” The windfarms proposed under the Round 3 leasing programme will deliver 30% of the UK’s electricity supply from up to 6,000 wind turbines. “That is a considerable growth market for concrete gravity foundations” said Medic.


Ian Bryan, The Crown Estate


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www.windenergynetwork.co.uk


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