UK Offshore wind capacity set to double following Government announcement

Ministers have today confirmed that the next competitive auction to procure new renewable power capacity which will take place in May 2019, with offshore wind, remote island wind and a range of other projects competing for Contracts for Difference (CfD). The Minister for Clean Growth and Climate Change, Claire Perry, also announced that further CfD auctions will take place every 2 years and that auctions will be supported by a budget of £557m. 

The UK already has just over 7GW gigawatts (GW) of operational offshore wind capacity – the largest amount of any country – and a further 7GW under construction or with contracts secured. The Government’s announcement of support for an additional 2GW of offshore wind per year in the 2020s could deliver up to 16GW of new capacity, which would generate approximately 20% of UK power. In 2017, offshore wind generated 6% of UK power.

Today’s announcement follows last year’s successful CfD auction which saw the cost of power from new offshore wind farms fall by 50%, making it one of the cheapest options for new power in the UK – lower than the cost of new gas and nuclear power.

Welcoming the announcement, RenewableUK’s Chief Executive, Hugh McNeal, said: “This is a ringing endorsement by Government of our world-leading offshore wind industry and its ability to deliver for UK businesses and British industry. Boosting our ambitions for offshore wind is win for consumers, as offshore wind is now one of the cheapest options for new power in the UK.

Today’s announcement confirming the budget and timing of new auctions, sets us on the path do deliver the tens of billions of pounds of investment that will be needed to meet our ambition of at least 30 gigawatts by 2030. This is good news for domestic supply chain which can look forward to a pipeline of new offshore wind projects that will support tens of thousands of jobs across the UK.

This is also an important boost for remote island wind, which like other renewables, is popular with the public and is a unique economic opportunity for island communities”

Benj Sykes, Co-Chair of the Offshore Wind Industry Council and UK Country Manager at Ørsted said: “I welcome today’s announcement which is a strong vote of confidence in our industry.  As well as cost-effectively reducing carbon emissions to meet our climate change targets, the offshore wind sector is powering the clean economy, bringing investment, skilled jobs and supply chain opportunities to businesses up and down the UK. We have proposed a transformative ambition to deliver at least 30GW by 2030, enough to meet more than a third of the country’s electricity needs, which in turn, together with the pipeline of regular auctions announced today, could increase exports five-fold, create thousands of skilled jobs and reduce electricity system costs. "