Waveney MP Peter Aldous has welcomed the news today from the Department of Energy and Climate Change on the outcome of the CFD Auction Allocation Round One, in which East Anglian Offshore Wind's EA1 Phase 1 has been successful, bidding £119.89 per MegaWatt Hour; a saving of just under 15% on the Administration Strike Price of £140/MWh. The 714MW project will provide power for 509,000 homes.

 

The development will see around 100 wind turbines installed in the southern North Sea. The overall investment will be in the region of £2 billion. East Anglia ONE has planning consent for up to 1,200MW, and ScottishPower Renewables may still seek to build out the full project by securing further capacity in future CfD auctions.

 

Peter Aldous commented:- "This is great news for Lowestoft and East Anglia and I congratulate the team at EAOW for their hard work and commitment. The project provides good value for the taxpayer and confirms that development costs are firmly set on a downwards trajectory and that the industry has an exciting future.

 

The southern North Sea is ideally suited for the development of offshore wind farms and Lowestoft is strategically placed to serve the industry, due to its close geographical proximity, the skills built up over 40 years in the oil and gas sector and the Town's growing reputation for expertise in offshore renewables technologies.

 

Lowestoft is rapidly becoming a strategic national hub for offshore renewables, with some 69% of the UK's offshore wind projects off the East Anglia coast, and the OrbisEnergy centre is hosting a growing cluster of innovative offshore businesses, including EAOW."

 

The company is now seeking to start construction in 2017, with the first turbines installed by 2019, and hopes that the project will be fully operational during 2020.

 

More than 90% of all expenditure on the project to date has been incurred in the UK and, during the planning process alone for East Anglia ONE, more than £15m of contracts have been awarded to local companies working on the project.