EDF Group to build new wind farm off Scotland 

French energy giant EDF has announced that it will be constructing a new 450 MW windfarm off the coast of southeast Scotland in partnership with its new partner, the Irish electricity company ESB.

The Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) wind farm project will see the construction of 54 wind turbines, 15km off the coast of Fife. Once up and running the windfarm is expected to generate enough electricity to power 375,000 homes each year, 4% of Scotland’s electricity consumption.

According to EDF the project is fully consented, and grid connection agreements are already in place. ESB will be taking a 50%stake in the project.

EDF Renewables UK chief executive Matthieu Hue said, “These are hugely important milestones for the project, and a great credit to the EDF Renewables team. We are excited to get work under way with our new equity partner ESB, our contractors, and all Scottish companies and stakeholders participating in the project. The 450 MW NnG project will play an important role in de-carbonising the UK electricity system and is a further example of EDF Renewables continuous investment and growth in Scotland.”

There had been some confusion as to whether Mitsubishi had snapped up the project following the release of new documents that showed that Japan’s largest trading company is now a substantial equity partner on the offshore wind farm project.

The NnG project is currently owned by EDF’s subsidiary, EDF Renewables. However, a new Companies House filing listed the Japanese firm as having “significant control” and holding 75% or more shares inNeart Na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Limited, the UK-registered entity set up to develop the wind farm. EDF has insisted that no takeover is underway.

Mitsubishi owns a 33% stake in the 100-turbine Moray East Offshore Wind Farm in the Outer Moray Firth through subsidiary Diamond Green Limited (DGE).

“The NnG project is still 100% owned by EDF,” said a spokeswoman for the firm.

With the UK government pledging to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 the windfarm is likely to be just one of many that will eventually have to be constructed for the target to be achieved.

Simone Rossi, CEO of EDF Energy added: “ The UK has committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050 and the UN's latest emissions gap report underlines the need for urgent action. NNG is our largest offshore windfarm in the UK to date. We are determined to play our part in reducing the country's carbon emissions, while also generating jobs and economic opportunities for communities .”

New data released by Schneider Electric shows that in 2018 the UK produced a whopping 117 million tonnes of emissions through the creation of energy that was then wasted.

The data calculated the amount of energy lost in the generation and transmission process or that was lost due to inefficiencies in buildings and systems of 400 large businesses (the typical energy bill for a large business being around the £11,000 per month),2,000 consumers and 120 SMEs.

Cost was the main reason given as to why energy waste is not being tackled – 84% of businesses said they were “torn between the anticipated cost of tackling waste and doing the right thing”.

The report goes on to say that100% of respondents to the survey think their business does waste energy but just 44% said they didn’t know if any energy saving measures were in place.

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