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npower renewables Press Release

Friday 9 September 2005

There's power in the wind and the waves

Britain's renewable energy industry took to the water this week for the 4th annual BWEA¹ sailing regatta sponsored and organised by npower renewables², one of the UK's leading renewable energy developers and operators.

npower renewables has organised the regatta each year which has grown from strength to strength making it one of the fastest growing sailing regattas in the UK and echoing the success of the wind industry, the fastest growing energy sector in the world. It is the UK's only sailing event to feature companies solely from the renewables industry all vying to demonstrate their skills in harnessing the natural power of the wind and waves, albeit for fun on this occasion, rather than to generate clean electricity!

The event first ran in 2002 and saw a modest entry of 11 boats, but news of the success of the event spread through the industry and the following year's entry doubled to 22 boats. The 2005 entry list saw a step change to include 30 companies and a fleet of 40 boats entered.

The event took place in the Solent using Sunfast 37s chartered from Sunsail at Port Solent. The majority of crews were inexperienced, with many companies using the event as an enjoyable but competitive team-building opportunity, or as a relationship-builder with clients.

The conditions were perfect, with a warm sunny start and light breezes that gave everyone the opportunity to learn about their boats and crews. The boats battled against strong tides but the event was light-hearted with plenty of competitive, friendly rivalry that saw SeaRoc with skipper Peter Hodgetts take first place in both races and steal the title of regatta champions from previous winners, npower renewables. Second place was taken by the Carbon Trust, skippered by Harry Morrison and third by Mowlem Wind Energy, winners in 2002 and 2003.

The trophy will be officially awarded to the winners at the BWEA conference gala dinner in Cardiff in October and will remain with SeaRoc until the event runs again next year to see who will win this increasingly popular event for companies in the renewables industry.

Contacts:

Karen Jones, PR Manager, npower renewables T: 0118 95 92 440
Alison Hill, BWEA T: 0207 689 1960

Editors notes:

1. npower renewables is a leading UK renewable energy generator, committed to developing and operating wind farms, hydroelectric schemes and, through RWE npower, co-firing biomass plants that produce sustainable and environmentally-friendly electricity. The company has some 14 years' experience in the development and management of world class wind farms, and operates 15 wind farms in the UK including the UK's first major offshore wind farm, North Hoyle, located 7 – 8km off the coast of North Wales. npower renewables is a subsidiary of RWE npower, and is also a sister company to npower - one of the UK's leading gas and electricity retailers. For more information about npower renewables, please visit http://www.npower-renewables.com and for more information about RWE npower visit http://www.rwenpower.com.

2. The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) is the UK's leading renewable energy body with over 300 companies in membership. With 27 years of representing the wind industry, the BWEA has now expanded its mission to champion the UK marine renewable sector and has over 60 marine companies within membership. For more information about BWEA, please visit www.bwea.com.

3. The Government has a target of producing 10% of the UK's electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2010 and 15% by 2015 to help combat global warming and climate change - wind energy will make an important contribution towards meeting these targets.

4. One of the major causes of global warming and climate change is the emission of large volumes of the gas carbon dioxide (CO2), resulting from, amongst other things, the generation of electricity by burning fossil fuels like coal and oil. Every unit of electricity generated from the wind, however, whether on land or at sea, takes the place of a unit that would otherwise have been generated by a fossil fuel power station, thus helping to reduce CO2 emissions and combat climate change.

5. For a full list of results see below