Centrica extends deal for unique wind turbine barge

Centrica will push ahead with one of the UK's most ambitious offshore wind generation building programmes after it secured a long-term contract on the MV Resolution, the world's largest turbine-installing barge.

The British Gas owner is using the ship to finish its 180 megawatt project at Lynn and Inner Dowsing off the Lincolnshire coast, the UK's largest offshore fields currently under construction. Its contract on the vessel, which has six legs that plant it on the sea floor while it installs the massive offshore turbines, was set to expire at the end of the year, but it has now been extended through to 2011, with additional one-year options through 2016.

The contract is crucial if the company hopes to deliver the £3bn worth of wind projects it plans to build in the coming years. Control of the vessel also gives it an advantage over rivals amid a squeeze up and down the wind industry supply chain that has driven construction and material costs dramatically upward.

Centrica could capitalise on these pressures by renting out the ship – the only one of its kind in the world – to the highest bidder. Alan Thompson, head of renewables, said: "While the vessel is important to us, we will not be looking to monopolise it and we're open to other commercial opportunities that may arise during times when it may not be required for our own work."

The Government's plan for the construction of more than 10,000 wind turbines on and off shore by 2020 has increased the strain on the industry already struggling to keep up with demand. Siemens, one of the world's leading turbine manufacturers, has told customers that it won't be able to fulfil new orders until 2012. Centrica said prices for materials and turbines have gone up by 50 per cent in the last three years.

Of the forecast 40 gigwatts of the country's power the Government ultimately hopes to derive from wind, 33gw will be offshore.

The Resolution, a specialised "turbine installation vessel" operated by MPI in Middlesborough, is the only six-legged barge of its kind. Energy companies contract similar ships used by the oil and gas industry to build offshore platforms, but such specialised vessels are in short supply.