PLANS are in motion for a major new project off the coast of west Cumbria which could become England's first community-owned offshore windfarm with the potential to create a significant number of new jobs.
Still in its very early stages, Project Collette would be a 1.2 gigawatt (with 80-100 turbines) wind farm. The renewable power would be used to decarbonise the local area and it would include a strong community ownership element, as some turbines - or all - could be community owned.
Who is involved?
- Green Finance Community Hub CIC – Formerly the Green Investment Plan Project, the hub was set up as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in May 2022 with the dual purpose to make more local net zero projects investable and to support the delivery of the 'transformative ideas' within their Green Investment Report. Project Collette was one of the main ideas within the report. Ciara Shannon is the director and co-founder of the Hub.
- Arup have been working on the delivery of hydrogen projects in the UK for the last 5 years. Arup’s legacy of work in Cumbria stretches back over 60 years. Arup has led initiatives aimed at kickstarting the hydrogen economy in Cumbria in the town of Workington. More recently they have been involved in the ScotWind leasing round. Ann-Marie Cowperthwaite is the head of Arup at Whitehaven.
- Energy4All are pioneers of community energy and more recently they have worked with REnantis, Ørsted and BlueFloat Technologies in the last ScotWind leasing round to explore innovative community ownership schemes for offshore wind. Marna McMillin, is the CEO of Energy4All.
- Cumbria LEP have also been closely involved in early-stage development and LSE and Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS) were early partners.
Introducing Project Collette and its potential home in Cumbria
Often described as Britain’s ‘energy coast’, Cumbria’s coastline is strategically important to the UK’s net zero and energy security as it has the potential to be a major generator of clean energy through expanding its nuclear, offshore wind and establishing hydrogen and carbon storage infrastructure.
Cumbria provides three times more clean energy generation than it consumes in electricity, and along Cumbria’s coastline there are eight offshore wind installations bringing major business, investment, and job opportunities along with them, according to Collette's planners.
How did the idea of Project Collette start?
The project started with the Green Investment Plan Cumbria, and the purpose was to take a 'holistic' look at Cumbria's potential to be net zero and climate positive.
They were then given funding and asked to look at alternates to the coal mine. This is where Arup were commissioned.
The two looked at how Project Collette could be used to decarbonise Whitehaven and Workington including using its excess power for green hydrogen for local industrial offtakers and also to power a possible green steel plant.
Ciara Shannon said: "We considered Workington's steel industry back in the day, and we are excited to explore green steel opportunities for the area. Project Collette is unique in that it combines offshore wind, green hydrogen and green steel. The important thing is the way Collette links back to community ownership.
"If it all gets the green light it would become England's first community-owned offshore windfarm."
Given its size, 'Collette' would require a phased approach, according to its planners. The three phases they envisage would move and expand the creation of 'green hydrogen' powered by the farm from onshore to offshore.
What are the next steps?
According to Ciara Shannon:
- The first step is to get sea rights and for the Crown Estate to make an exception to allow Collette to happen. The Crown Estate already has in its pipeline 80GW of offshore wind by 2030. This is more than enough to meet the Government’s targets so for this project to move ahead, there needs to be flexibility in new leasing activity and Project Collette must be considered an exception.
- Planning steps for offshore wind takes about 8-10 years all in.
- Partners involved in the project also need to think about if people in Cumberland want to own their own offshore wind farm - they need to think about the community ownership breakdown. Local acceptance is vital, she said. Public resistance against more offshore wind turbines could be a barrier to the development of Project Collette.
Project Collette also needs access to start-up funding because the partners need to do feasibility studies. That will look at the community structure and if it is technically feasible to either extend Robin Rigg or be a unique offshore wind farm off the Cumbrian coast.
Ciara Shannon said: "Project Colette would create more than 530 jobs. People in Whitehaven know that Sellafiled is a stable employer but it is that same for offshore windfarming. Employment in offshore wind in the UK has increased significantly recently."
"You have to think of the longterm economic growth of the project.
"With the surplus energy from the 1.2 gigawatt, we can create green hyrodgen, with the potential to invest into new industries and provide green energy for offtakers. We have been doing investigation into Solway for this."
Ann-Marie Cowperthwaite said: "We also need to be Cumberland authority on board. They want to have a conversation about how it can fit in their plans.
"The meeting is already set up."
What is the timeline of the project?
Ann-Marie Cowperthwaite said: "It is likely to take several years, to get all the proposals, approvals and money secured. It is still a long term prognosis but we want to get that all in place.
"Most important, consider the community involvement and why it's good for them, the energy on the door step and money stays local, and is a local investment for local people.
"We do not want to go marching ahead without due consideration of something people potentially don’t want. Once we realise it is potential and possible, we can figure out how long it will take and when the end stage will be."
Why is this so important for the area?
As mentioned there will be over 500 jobs created initally from the project, and more are possible due to the long term economic growth of the project.
Ann-Marie Cowperthwaite said: "Cumbria is at the forefront of everything we do and we want to have maintainable jobs in a sustainable manner.
"Collective ownership brings income in for 30 years plus, rather than a short term construction boost to the area."
At the COP26 climate change conference in 2021, Arup backed away from oil and gas. They wanted to focus on net zero and projects that have a positive impact on that, and also communities and sustainable energy as the collective.
Ann-Marie Cowperthwaite said: "This project fits perfectly within that."
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