Teesside-based wholesale energy experts EnAppSys has teamed up with The Crown Estate on the power sector’s first interactive offshore wind electricity map.
The company, headquartered in Yarm, has developed software that supplies The Crown Estate with the underlying data needed to power the new electricity map, which for the first time shows the power outputs and estimated percentage of UK electricity demand being met each by individual offshore wind farm around the coast.
EnAppSys was responsible for sourcing and bringing together comprehensive wind energy data from around the country to enable the map to be updated every hour.
The map can be broken down by individual wind farms to show site capacity, operator, number of turbines, current wind speed and electricity generation output from all 27 offshore wind farms in the UK, which comprise nearly 1500 individual turbines.
The map also displays previous monthly and yearly wind power generation output data and compares the generation forecast to other energy generation sources such as coal, gas and nuclear.
The Crown Estate plays an important role in the development of the offshore wind sector through its active asset management of the UK seabed to unlock value, including awarding leases for construction of wind farms and encouraging industry cooperation to share best practice, boost performance and bring down costs.
Phil Hewitt, director of EnAppSys, said: “The opportunity to work with The Crown Estate on the offshore wind map was a really interesting project for us. We have provided them with data for some time to help them forecast revenues but this project has now got our data and services in the public domain which is exciting. Getting useful data on the operation of all the facets of the offshore fleet required accessing different sources; forecasts, energy market notifications and metering data.
“Combining these sources to provide a snapshot of information that members of the general public can understand was a challenge, but we hope the end result will help inform the debate on the usefulness of wind power.”
Huub den Rooijen, director of energy, minerals and infrastructure at The Crown Estate, said: “The UK has more offshore wind turbines installed than the rest of the world put together. It remains the most attractive country to invest in globally, but its success as a UK infrastructure story is not well known. We hope this map will inspire greater understanding of this sector, which is on course to meet 10 per cent of the UK’s electricity demand by 2020 and is already making a significant contribution to a secure, low carbon energy mix for the UK.”
EnAppSys is an independent and specialist organisation which uses aggregated data from different sources to provide electricity and energy market data, systems and intelligence to parties with an interest in the UK energy market.
The interactive map can be found at: http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/offshore-wind-electricity-map/
For more details on EnAppSys visit: www.enappsys.com
