Island‘ ideal for offshore wind farm schemes’

The coast of Anglesey has been described as the “ideal host” for an offshore windfarm to fill the gap left by Wylfa Newydd.

Anglesey, which has long prided itself as an “energy island,” was dealt a blow earlier this year when Hitachi slammed the brakes on its planned multi billion pound nuclear plant near Cemaes.

But council chiefs have welcomed moves by the Crown Estate - which manages the sea bed around Wales - to market large swathes of the north Wales coast as a “bidding area.”

The £2bn Gwynt y Mor windfarm is already a familiar sight, based eight miles off the coast of Llandudno.

According to the economic development portfolio holder, the authority would welcome discussions with developers for a similar development further west, which could be operational during the next decade.

“We see it as a huge opportunity here on Anglesey,” said Cllr Carwyn Jones, who believes that offshore wind could be one way of filling the energy gap.

“If the UK is going to reach the 2050 zero carbon target, offshore wind needs to play a big part in that, otherwise it just won’t happen.

“What we’ve got to face now is that young people are telling us radical things need to happen to cut down on carbon emissions.

“Offshore wind is a fantastic source of low carbon, clean energy for the future so we’re fully behind it.”

The four available Seabed Bidding Areas are: Dogger Bank, Eastern Regions, South East, and Northern Wales and Irish Sea.

The North Wales and Irish Sea region, and the northern part of the Anglesey region, covers an area of approximately 8500km2.

He added, “We’ve sent our response to the Crown Estates consultation saying we’re willing and open to talk.

“Anglesey is an Energy Island and we’d be happy to share our expertise and the skilled people we have here for energy production.

“I believe that Anglesey would be an ideal host community for potential developers.”

The tender process will run from October 2019 to Autumn 2020 with successful bidders chosen via a three-stage tender process that will evaluate each developers’ capability and their proposed projects.

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