London (Platts)--28Feb2008

The UK government has given consent for three new windfarms, with a total
capacity of 215 MW, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform said Thursday. The three separate farms are to be developed by
Renewable Energy Systems, E.ON UK Renewables and Denmark's DONG Energy, it
added.
The consent for the farms was granted by the energy minister Malcolm
Wicks under section 36 of the Electricity Act, which covers power plants with
capacity greater than 50 MW.
Wicks said there was now "real momentum for renewables in the UK"
building. He added that the government's Renewables Obligation, the system
for providing financial incentives to wind developers, had helped double the
amount of renewable electricity, and this would triple again to 15% by 2015
through changes in the Energy Bill. "We are on course to overtake Denmark next
year as the world leader in offshore wind and we are reviewing our strategy to
take us even further," he said.
Renewable Energy Systems' 85 MW windfarm is to be built at Keadby, North
Lincolnshire, BERR said. It is planned to have 39 turbines. E.ON UK's 66 MW
farm is to be located at Thorne, South Yorkshire, with 22 turbines. And DONG's
64 MW farm, known as Gunfleet Sands II, is planned for the Thames Estuary,
also with 22 turbines.