據鉆機地帶網站8月8日報道，英國石油公司（bp）正在考慮在愛爾蘭海建立兩個海上風電場，而不需要政府的任何支持——這標志著該行業的發展首次受到成本上升的阻礙。

這家總部位于倫敦，主要靠出售石油和天然氣賺錢的公司表示，其可能不會對英國的差價拍賣合同進行投標，因為其預計將使用自己生產的電力。

通常情況下，投標過程的設計是為了確保消費者在合同有效期內為他們生產的低碳電力支付固定的、預先商定的價格。

bp計劃在沒有政府支持的情況下建造兩個風電場，這可能是第一次。

對于一個一直依賴政府補貼建設的市場來說，此舉將是不同尋常的。成本飆升還意味著，在可再生能源需求上升導致一些海上風電項目擱淺后，開發商正在尋求更多的公共支持。

該公司首席執行官伯納德·魯尼(Bernard Looney)對最先報道這一消息的《泰晤士報》表示，該公司最快將在“明年年底”開始建設摩根和莫娜項目。據該報報道，這些風力發電場總共將在威爾士北部和英格蘭西北部海岸外20英里處安裝214臺渦輪機，可為340萬戶家庭供電。

bp正在加快為其海上風電擴建融資的計劃，因為該公司預計其自身的電力需求將會上升。其承諾增加在石油、天然氣和可再生能源方面的支出。

就在上個月，Vattenfall公司以成本更高為由，取消了在英國海岸建造風力發電廠的計劃。據彭博社(BloombergNEF)報道，美國也放棄了類似的計劃，至少還有另外9.7吉瓦的項目面臨風險，因為它們的開發商希望重新談判或退出合同，以出售電力，他們認為現在的價格太低，不值得投資。

英國的風電場在獲得規劃許可和接入國家電網方面也遇到了拖延。據英國《泰晤士報》報道，英國石油公司的項目預計要到明年初才能申請規劃同意書，這一過程通常需要至少一年時間。

在上月舉行的德國有史以來規模最大的海上風電拍賣中，該公司是贏家之一。在拍賣中，該公司獲得了在北海建設4吉瓦裝機容量的權利——這幾乎是其全球項目儲備的兩倍，使得其全球裝機容量達到9.2吉瓦。Looney此前表示，該公司擁有龐大的電動汽車充電器、煉油業務網絡，并正在該國建設生物燃料工廠，這將需要大量的綠色電力。

郝芬 譯自 鉆機地帶網站

原文如下：

BP Plans Two UK Wind Farms for Own Power Supply

BP Plc is considering building two offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea without any support from the government — marking a first for the sector where development has been hindered by rising costs. 

The London-based company, which makes most of its money selling oil and gas, said it may not place bids on the UK’s contracts for difference auctions because it expects to use the generated electricity itself. 

Normally, the bid process is designed to ensure that consumers pay generators a fixed, pre-agreed price for the low-carbon power they produce during the contract’s duration.

In a potential first, BP plans to build two wind farms without government support.

The move would be unusual for a market that has always relied on government subsidies for construction. Soaring costs also mean that developers are seeking for more public support after some offshore wind projects were derailed as demand for renewable energy rises. 

Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney told The Times, who first reported the news, that the company could start building the Morgan and Mona projects as soon as “late next year.” The wind farms together would boast up to 214 turbines about 20 miles off the coasts of north Wales and northwest England and could power 3.4 million homes, the newspaper reported. 

BP is ramping up its plans to finance an expansion in offshore wind as it expects that its own need for power will rise. It has pledged to boost spending on both oil and gas as well as renewables. 

only last month, Vattenfall AB scrapped plans for a wind farm off the coast of Britain, citing higher costs. Similar initiatives have also been dropped in the US, and at least another 9.7 gigawatts of projects there are at risk because their developers want to renegotiate or exit contracts to sell power at prices that they say are now too low to make the investments worth it, according to BloombergNEF.

Wind farms in the UK have also struggled with delays in securing planning consent and connections to the national grid. BP’s projects are not expected to apply for planning consent until early next year, a process that usually takes at least a year, the Times reported.

The company was one of the winners in Germany’s biggest ever offshore wind auction last month, where it secured the rights to construct 4 gigawatts of capacity in the North Sea — almost doubling its global pipeline of projects to 9.2 gigawatts. The company has a large network of electric vehicle chargers, refining operations and is building a biofuels plant in the country, which will require large amounts of green electricity, Looney previously said.