However, this consultation process can be onerous for individual developers. Improved coordination could also help overcome limitations on the national grid, which the industry believes is one of the biggest challenges to achieving net zero.Įvery offshore wind farm requires an onshore connection point local coastal communities must therefore be consulted. While national policy statements help, the relevant bodies require investment to ensure they have the skills and capacity needed to process the weight of new projects coming through the system. This would not only reduce costs but lessen the community and environmental impacts that can generate resistance to new developments. However, a more strategic approach to network planning is required so that developers can coordinate operations to streamline the build out of transmission infrastructure. The Energy Security Strategy includes a package to identify and support the deployment of the necessary strategic infrastructure. It is also vital that the electricity network grid is included in the planning framework as the grid is critical to accommodate the planned increase in offshore wind. In particular, the planning framework needs to take the importance of net zero and energy security into account when making decisions about consenting offshore wind farms. While consenting has been accelerated, there remains scope to strengthen renewables national policy statements. The first annual auction will open in March 2023 and will build on the success that CfD has already had in reducing the cost of offshore wind generation, sending a strong signal to investors. The industry has also welcomed the switch to annual Contracts for Difference (CfD) auctions – the mechanism that ensures generators receive a fixed, pre-agreed price for the renewable electricity they produce for the duration of the contract. The good news is that there is now a commitment to shorten the consenting process to one year. The consenting process for offshore wind has long been a bugbear for the industry, with projects taking up to four years to gain approval. For the UK government’s vision to succeed, these need to be addressed. The latest update to the British Energy Security Strategy, published in April – after the war in Ukraine heightened the UK’s focus on energy security – hiked the offshore wind target from 40 GW of capacity by 2030 to 50 GW – more than enough to power every home in the UK.īut despite offshore wind’s many attractions, it continues to face a number of barriers. Politically, offshore wind also encounters less opposition than onshore wind (or solar farms). As an island nation, the UK has plenty of wind. Offshore wind is a key component in the UK’s transition to net zero. How to overcome the barriers to offshore wind
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