By Nina Chestney
LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The British government said on
Tuesday it will commit nearly 32 million pounds ($42 million) to
fund the development of floating offshore wind projects to help
lessen its dependence on gas, the price of which has increased
sharply.
The 31.6 million pounds of funding will be matched by a
further 30 million pounds from industry to accelerate renewable
energy deployment, the government added.
Floating wind farms, which can be deployed in deeper waters
than conventional turbines, are an emerging technology with far
higher costs than projects fixed to the seabed, but these costs
are expected to fall as more projects are brought online.
The government said 11 projects would receive funding to
develop new technologies to enable turbines to be located in the
windiest parts of Britain's seas as it seeks to become a world
leader in floating wind.
The projects include one by Marine Power Systems in Swansea
to develop a floating foundation and integrated wave energy
generator and one by Cerulean Winds for a floating foundation
system and wind turbine for deployment at an offshore oil and
gas facility in the North Sea or West of Shetland.
"These innovative projects will help us expand renewable
energy further and faster across the UK and help to reduce our
exposure to volatile global gas prices," said UK energy minister
Greg Hands.
The amount committed is small compared to the nearly 700
million pounds raised last week in a Crown Estate Scotland
auction to develop Scottish offshore wind projects, where BP,
Shell and utility Iberdrola's Scottish Power
were among the winners of seabed rights.
The 17 winning Scottish projects in that leasing round will
produce nearly 25 GW in the next decade, helping to provide
low-carbon power in line with a UK-wide goal to cut emissions to
net zero by mid-century.
($1 = 0.7422 pounds)
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
