If there's one word that sums up the past and future of the Romney Marshes it would be energy. The very existence of the Marshes and their coastline is the result of the release of energy from the channel and huge storms that dramatically reshaped the area in the middle ages; in more recent times, the Marshes have played a key role in the generation of energy for the UK with two nuclear reactors sites at Dungeness and now, as more environmentally friendly energy sources are sought, the Marshes are coming into their own as a leading environmentally friendly generator of energy with much of the farmland given over the the growing of bio-fuels and one of the largest wind-farms in the UK being built here. This article details the current and future energy generation facilities on Romney Marsh.

Wind Farm: Little Cheyne Court

Romney Marsh has been chosen as the site for one of the largest onshore wind farms in the UK. The wind farm (being built by npower renewables) at Little Cheyne Court will see a state-of-the-art wind farm built on the Marshes, with construction starting May 2008 of 26 116 metre high wind turbines each providing between 52 and 78MW of power¹ - enough to supply the domestic energy needs of 33,000 homes or 75 per cent of homes in Shepway (the district council administrative area)². Update: The first turbine was errected in early June 2008.

Bio-Fuels 

Looking out over the Romney Marshes in Spring, it's almost impossible to miss the huge swathes of farm land occupied by the bright yellow rapeseed, or oilseed rape. The plant is the preferred stock for biodiseal production in Europe as it produces more oil per unit of land than other oil sources³ and commands high prices in comparison to other farm produce. SEEDA (the South East Development Agency) is already sponsoring activity on the Marshes and Romney Marsh Farms - owners of over 1000 acres of farm land - are actively promoting the benefits of this emerging market to other farmers.

Dungeness Nuclear Power Station

Dungeness is home to not one but two nuclear power stations, Dungeness A and Dungeness B, and although both are now either closed or scheduled for decommissioning there is increasing attention being given to the facility as the home for future nuclear power stations.

Dungeess A was the first power station on the site and is now longer used for power generation. Employing two now obsolete Magnox reactors, it came online in 1965, with total generating power of 446 MW⁴ and 3.2 billion kWh per year⁵. It was closed on 31st December 2006, with decommissioning underway.

Dungeness B is an active power station, with two advanced-gas cooled reactors generating over 1110 MW a year - it recently produced a record yearly output of 13TWh. Since coming online in 1983⁶ it has produced enough electricity to power the whole of the South East England region, including London, for a whole year⁷. The working lifespan of Dungeness B has recently been extended and is now scheduled to remain in use until 2018.

References

1: http://www.natwindpower.co.uk/pressreleases/onshorewind/051018_lcc.asp

2: http://www.natwindpower.co.uk/pressreleases/onshorewind/080523_lcc.pdf 

3: Wikipedia page on rapeseed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapeseed

4: Wikipedia page on Dungeness power stations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeness_power_station

5: Magnox South website  on Dungeness A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeness_power_station

6: British Energy, Dungeness B web page: http://www.british-energy.com/pagetemplate.php?pid=91

7: Nuclear Industry Association: http://www.niauk.org/news/latest-nuclear-news/10-year-life-extension-for-dungeness-b.html

Last update: 19-07-2008 01:16