Argyll Array Shelved- as “Not Financially Viable”

Scottish Power, owned by Spanish company Iberdrola, has decided not to proceed with a £5.4bn plan to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm north of Scotland because it is “not financially viable”. It would have provided renewable energy for a breathtaking one million homes and been a great step forward in helping the Government tackle its electricity supply issues and carbon reduction targets.

Tiree Array Bird image MAR 2008 300x1931 Argyll Array Shelved  as Not Financially Viable

The area planned four years ago for the wind farm, off the coast of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides islands would have been three times larger than the London Array at the mouth of the River Thames in Kent in the South East of England. The area had almost perfect wind conditions and is a favorite spot for windsurfers. So why has the plug been pulled on the plan for 3oo turbines capable of producing 1800MW of green energy?

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The London Array

Energy groups claim that the subsidies and assurances needed for large-scale wind power projects such as the Argyll Array are just not enough to justify the risk for investors and taxpayers in the short term. Others claim that offshore wind technology was not sufficiently advanced to have brought the costs down or guarantee energy delivery, despite the wind conditions being among the best in the northern hemisphere.  Scottish Power blamed the presence of “hard rock” for the turbine foundations and environmental issues around the basking sharks that inhabit that part of the sea.

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Basking Shark

Scottish Power recently warned that UK opposition leader Ed Milliband’s promise to freeze domestic power prices in a bid to help struggling consumers risked discouraging further investment.  But despite pulling the plug on the Argyll Array, the more modest venture for a 389MW offshore wind farm west of Duddon Sands in the Irish Sea will go ahead.

An application for consent was also submitted in 2012 with Vattenfall for the East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm, which could have a capacity of up to 1,200MW. Renewable UK was not pessimistic about the future saying that the physical, environmental and financial obstacles, in this case, were just too high at this point in time.

It could be that because technology is advancing at such a pace, in a few years’ time the conditions will be right to re-launch the Argyll Array. We hope so.