Shell Wind is a major wind power developer, with stakes in projects generating 850 megawatts of electricity (415 MW Shell share). It plans to expand its portfolio to nearly 1,000 MW (500 MW Shell share) by the end of 2007. That is enough electricity for more than half a million homes. In Europe, we are developing projects at sea where, despite higher costs and difficulties connecting to onshore transmissions grids, winds are stronger, larger turbines can be used and there is less visual disturbance. In 2006, the Noordzee Wind offshore wind farm started production (see below) and the 1,000 MW London Array project, which we are partners in, received offshore planning permission. Consent to build the onshore connection depends on the result of a local public inquiry. London Array would be the world’s largest wind farm and is being actively supported by the Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds and the World Wildlife Fund. In 2006, construction began on the Mount Storm project (164 MW, 50% Shell share) in West Virginia, USA and efforts continued to develop wind power projects in China.
Like the current wave of venture capitalists investing in solar, we believe thin-film technologies show the most promise for driving down the costs of turning sunlight into electricity. In 2006, we successfully completed our joint venture agreement with glassmaker Saint-Gobain to develop next generation Copper Indium Diselenide (CIS) thin-film technology. CIS uses 100 times less raw material than today’s silicon crystalline modules. It is easier and, we expect, cheaper to produce in high volumes. The joint venture – AVANCIS GmbH – began construction of a 20 MW panel manufacturing plant in Germany in November 2006.
Noordzee Wind: On time and on budget
In October 2006, households in the Netherlands began receiving clean electricity from the Egmond aan Zee Offshore Wind Farm in the North Sea. Developed by Shell Wind Energy and power company Nuon, the 108 MW wind farm supplies enough carbon-free power for more than 100,000 Dutch homes, saving around 140,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.
Our offshore oil and gas experience helped overcome the technical challenges and deliver the project on time and on budget. The focus now is on improving the operational performance of offshore wind by reducing maintenance costs and increasing the amount of time that turbines are available to produce power. Generating wind power offshore is currently about twice as expensive as onshore, so government support remains critical to making it a viable alternative to conventional power generation.