Celtic Array withdraws from Irish Sea offshore wind farm development

Centrica and DONG Energy, through their 50/50 joint venture vehicle Celtic Array, have decided to step back from the development of offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea Zone.

The decision comes follows a result of the Zone assessment, which confirmed challenging ground conditions that make the project economically unviable with current technology.

DONG Energy, earlier, acquired a 50% share in Centrica’s rights to develop wind farms in the Round 3 Irish Sea Zone and formed the joint venture in March 2012.

The project spokesperson said: "We’re disappointed not to be progressing with our work to develop wind farms in the Irish Sea Zone, however our assessments have shown that ground conditions are such that it’s not viable for us to proceed with the technology that’s available at this stage."

Commenting on the decision, RenewableUK Offshore Renewables director Nick Medic said: "Although it’s disappointing that this particular project isn’t going ahead, the reasons are understandable – conditions on the sea bed would make the project economically unviable at this stage.

"Overall we still have over 37 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in the UK’s project pipeline, so we’re set to maintain our huge global lead in offshore wind, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the decades ahead to add to the 13,000 we have already."

Celtic Array’s request to terminate the zone development and terminate their seabed rights has also been agreed by the Crown Estate, allowing the joint venture to cease the development work.

Offshore Wind head Huub den Rooijen said: "We have confirmed the developers’ assessment of the zone, which shows that challenging ground conditions make this project economically unviable with current technology."

The UK currently has 22 operational 3,654MW wind farms as well as five under construction (1,401MW), 11 consented (5,095MW) and nice in the planning system (10,138MW).

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