Centrica and DONG Energy have jointly decided to stop wind farms development in the Irish Sea Zone through their joint venture (JV), Celtic Array.
Both the firms formed the Celtic Array JV in March 2012 when DONG Energy acquired a 50% stake in Centrica’s rights to develop wind farms in the Round 3 Irish Sea Zone.
The companies have signed an exclusive zone development agreement with the Crown Estate in January 2010, allowing Centrica to prepare plans for offshore wind farms development in an area of the Irish Sea.
The latest move to stop wind farms development follows an assessment of the zone, which has confirmed that it is economically unviable with the existing technology due to challenging ground conditions.
A spokesperson for the project said: "We’re disappointed not to be progressing with our work to develop wind farms in the Irish Sea Zone, however our assessments have shown that ground conditions are such that it’s not viable for us to proceed with the technology that’s available at this stage.
The Crown Estate said it has no plans to re-offer the zone to the market.
Commenting on the companies decision, RenewableUK director of offshore renewables Nick Medic said: "Although it’s disappointing that this particular project isn’t going ahead, the reasons are understandable – conditions on the sea bed would make the project economically unviable at this stage.
"However, let’s not forget that one of the Celtic Array partners, DONG Energy, already has a healthy pipeline of 7 offshore wind farms up and running in UK waters, another 2 under construction, a further project approved and 3 others in the final stages of gaining consent.
"Overall we still have over 37 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in the UK’s project pipeline, so we’re set to maintain our huge global lead in offshore wind, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the decades ahead to add to the 13,000 we have already."
Image: Centrica and DONG Energy have jointly decided to stop wind farms development in the Irish Sea Zone. Photo: Courtesy of The Crown Estate.