Ocean Powerhouse Our World

Our World. We go offshore to see if at harnessing the winner in the

Asian could be the answer to our energy needs. - May the wind up.

Thousands of wind turbines are rising from the sea. One of the

most ambitious construction projects in the world. Britain is a

pioneer. -- harnessing the wind. Everything is new. But working out

at sea is much tougher than on land and the cost is much higher. It is

inherently complicated. It is in a difficult environment. It is

staggeringly expensive. So in the drive for carbon-free electricity,

does it makes sense to turn for to the Asian for this new kind of

power house. -- turned to the Asian. -- turn to the ocean. --

powerhouse? The story begins on dry land. At the dockyards where they

built the Titanic. These are components for a new wind farm.

They are enormous. Before they are installed out at sea, this is our

best chance to get a sense of their scale. This is the tip of one of

the largest wind turbines in the world. Here in Belfast is the

assembly area for a new wind farm for the Irish Sea. It is difficult

to understand the scale of this project. This one played weighs 22

tonnes. It is 61 metres long. It takes a while to walk to the other

end. This is slightly longer than the entire wing span of a Boeing

747 jumbo jet. The whole thing is made of fibreglass. It sounds

pretty robust. As you can tell, the nearer we get to this end, the

thicker and more robust the whole structure becomes. You can imagine

the kind of stresses and strains of this would experience, buffeted out

in the ocean. We have made it to the end. How do they fit these on

to the hub? This one has three plates fitted all ready. It is

about to be loaded on to a ship. Let me show you how they fit it.

The key is these: 128 of these massive bolts fitted in a ring to

hold the blade inside here. When each plate is fitted, eight

delicate manoeuvre followers. Moving them takes real care. --

follows. Everything is controlled from a tiny cab with a bird's-eye

view. The little red bubble is where the driver sits. Robert

Childs has one of the strangers jobs. Inside the crane, a staircase

leads him to the controls. He ends up suspended high above the ground.

I joined him inside. It is cramped. The next stage of the work is about

to begin. How high are we? 100m. are right above these slender

plates. You a lifting them around. How difficult is that? They are bit

lighter. So why we rely a lot on the ground crew to keep them as

steady as possible. How tense is that for you? It is nerve-racking.

There is a lot of pressure. They are not something you want to

bounce about. Inch by inch, the Blades a lifted off the ground.

Their immense size takes getting used to. -- plates. This is cutting

edge technology. But it still needs Brits strength. -- bldes. --brute.

-- blades. The giant crane moves along the tracks, carrying its

Precious cargo. This is the process speeded up. Each wind farm is built

slightly differently. New technologies and techniques are

being tried out all the time. a new industry and we learn from

everything we do. That is the key that anybody coming on to the

project has the ability to suggest a new way of doing things. We are

open to suggestions by people working on the project, even people

at home watching this. The final stage of loading. Britain has more

offshore wind installations than any other country, but deter mines

-- but the Tote odds here are German, and the power company

behind the project it is Swedish. - - but deterred bines here. -- the

turbines here. But how reliable are these? It will be interesting to

see if these breakdowns a single events or a pattern. We may have to

change the equipment every eight use. That would seriously dampen

the expansion of offshore wind turbines. The barge is towed very

cautiously offshore. About junior art to see is much faster. -- our

journey out to sea. We travel by high-speed catamaran. The crew know

the route well. It takes us past wind farms already built. Out at

the site, one of the biggest challenges is fixing the

foundations. 1 wind farm starters subsiding. At this want they

hammered the legs 40m deep into the ocean floor. It is all more

difficult than on land. There are still many unknowns. We are still

in the early stages of the industry. The foundations are expensive but

will most likely reduce in costing coming years. But you also have the

operations, using vessels to get to deter mines, are very expensive

installation vessel. All of these costs are not included in the

onshore wind farms. -- to get to the turn binds. -- Tobias. --

turbines. Some experts say offshore wind is not affordable. Offshore

wind is an expensive and difficult way of reducing carbon emissions.

There are better and cheaper ways. Climate change is not something we

can the experiment for, building an almost projects offshore. Climate

change is something urgent which requires us to do something quickly.

To choose one of the most expensive ways to reduce those admissions,

rather than using cheaper, more direct routes, is a luxury that

consumers and the planet cannot afford. This wind farm cost about

�500 million. Quite a price tag. But the industry says it is worth

it and that future projects will be cheaper stop you there we are

confident that the cost will fall significantly in the next 10 or 20

years. People are worried about the rise in their power bills. Then on

top of that, the extra cost of going Greens. But you must

understand the alternatives to not investing in renewable energy. That

will be a world that cannot tackle climate change and all that means.

As we draw near, the sea Jack is still down at sea level ready for

us to climb aboard. One of the trickiest things is getting from

one vessel to another. Here we are lucky. We can use this ladder. And

The ECJ crisis as soon as we are on. Bundles of cables start to moves. -

- sea jack. As you can see in this time-lapse footage, it rises in the

water, standing on its lakes with us on it. -- legs. What happens

now? The power is about to be assembled. This is the lower

section, waiting for it is a team of technicians, dwarfed by the size

of it. The tower needs to be lined up exactly. The giant tube is

rotated very gingerly. Eventually, a particular pin is guided by hand

into the right place and the section can be lowered into its

final position. The operation is masterminded from the bridge. At

the high-tech control room, the captain keeps watch. Have you have

been through some pretty big storms? Yes, we were lucky to get

out. The day wears on. The tower is ready, but there is still a lot to

do. The next essential component is raised into place. Each component

has to be carefully lifted into place and now it is the turn of the

giant box that contains the gearbox, the generator and the control

system that will sit up at the top of the turbine. A very delicate

operation and all been done by the crane driver in that little blue

cabin. If you look down below, you can see this great turntable. The

whole crane can pivot in any direction, right in the middle of

the ship. It gives it extraordinary flexibility. A little bit higher,

inch by inch. Look where it has to get to - past the crane and up to

be very top of the tower. One of the specialists is waiting to greet

it. An extraordinary operation, but it is not over yet. It is high

summer and at about 9 o'clock, dusk has fallen. The construction site

is bathed in floodlight. The final stage of the work is just getting

under way. It is late evening, but the work just keeps going as they

enter a critical stage - lifting the giant set of blades of the deck.

They are now angling this huge rota so it is in the right position to

be hoisted right up and fitted to the very top of the tower. In the

dark, up at the summit, a face appears. A giant shadow is

approaching. The voices over the radio remain calm. The wind picks

up slightly. This is now the greatest danger. Down on deck, a

team clutches the tip of a blade. It has to be kept from hitting

anything. It is a moment of maximum tension. Attach it to your right.

Really slow. Gradually, the harbour get closer to its destination and

then it is fitted. Just before midnight the job is done. Just

after dawn, the seajack has been lowered and it is time for us to

leave. The barge is heading back to Belfast for another load of

components. There is one more leg of our journey to come. The wind

farm is almost complete. Work boats cluster around the towers. The

turbines are being connected to be grid. Each one should generate five

megawatts of electricity, a lot more than most, but still, you

would need 200 of them to match the output of a conventional power

station. Getting onto one is not easy. It involves the same

elaborate procedure we went through to board the seajack. 1, 2, 3,4,

5.... This is the moment our ascent begins and we have to try to get

right up to the top there, up to those blades. Apparently, we can

get up onto the roof and have a look. This is the way we will do it

- through this huge door at the base of the tower. It is a bit like

entering a submarine or a ship. Here goes. With one of the longest

ladders in history, I'm sure. There is a lift, I could have used it,

but we thought for the authentic wind turbine experience, and also

to show you how ridiculously big these things are, it would be

better if I went through the ordeal of the long haul to the top. Inside,

it's a very long journey to the top. I am hooked on for safety, but the

technicians who work in here have to be specially trained and they

need a head for heights. Up top, we have reached the key mechanisms,

just behind the blades. There is one more stage to go. So, this is

the final stage of the journey to the top. First impression, it is an

incredible view. The sun has come out, the sea is glistening. Look at

the size of that one blade, stretching right up against the

blue sky. Now, all of these are immobile at the moment because they

are not yet commissioned, but they soon will be benefiting from the

beautiful breeze, out here at sea. This wind farm should generate the

power needed for 100,000 homes, but only when the wind spins all of its

30 turbines. Britain is committed to getting a quarter of its

electricity from onshore turbine by 2020. Germany, Denmark and Holland

also have serious plans for wind farms at sea. But will this catch

on globally? Maybe not. In some parts of Asia we do find good

conditions and some countries are experimenting in offshore wind. We

also have to think about the areas where there are hurricanes and lots

of storms. There are no indications of a global spread. One aim is to

get electricity without producing greenhouse gas. Another is to

become less dependent on fuel from abroad. It is great that it is home

grown electricity. But it must make sense to use this instead of buying