Britain scraps third offshore wind farm in two weeks

Scottish Power, a subsidiary of Spain’s Iberdrola , said on Friday that it would not pursue the proposed 1,800 megawatt Argyll Array offshore wind farm. The announcement makes Scottish Power the third utility in two weeks to pull out of an offshore wind project in British waters.

RWE and Centrica also cancelled ambitious offshore wind projects, purportedly for economic reasons, over the past two weeks. Britain boasts the world’s largest offshore wind market and has set an ambitious target of expanding current capacity by nearly five times to 18 gigawatts (GW) by 2020. The

Scottish Power cited challenging wave conditions and the presence of protected basking sharks in surrounding waters as the primary reasons for pulling out of the project. “The Argyll Array project is not financially viable in the short term,” said Jonathan Cole, the director of Scottish Power’s offshore wind program, in a statement. Scottish Power is currently developing an 389 MW West Duddon Wind Farm, an offshore wind farm located nine miles off the coast of Cumbria in the Irish Sea.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2013/12/13/britain-scraps-third-offshore-wind-farm-in-two-weeks/?ss=business%3Aenergy