No new offshore wind project contracts have been bought by developers at a key Government auction, dealing a blow to the U.K.’s renewable power strategy that critics said “may represent a landmark moment for renewables policy”. BBC News has more.
Results showed no bids for new offshore wind farms, but there were deals for solar, tidal and onshore wind projects.
Firms have argued the price set for electricity generated was too low to make offshore wind projects viable.
The government said a “global rise” in inflation impacting supply chains had “presented challenges for projects”.
It said while offshore and floating offshore wind projects did not feature on the agreed deals list, the outcome was “in line with similar results in countries including Germany and Spain”.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said “significant numbers” of solar power, onshore wind, tidal energy schemes, and for the first time, geothermal projects, which use heat from the ground to generate power, had been awarded funding.
But the lack of offshore wind will be a blow to the pledge to deliver 50 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030 compared with 14GW today.
Renewable energy groups have said that alternative renewable projects, such as solar, cannot do the heavy lifting in generating the power that offshore wind does.
The technology has been described as the “jewel in the UK’s renewable energy crown”, but firms have been hit by higher costs for building offshore farms, with materials such as steel and labour being more expensive.
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Campaign group Net Zero Watch (NZW) said the failure of the auction “may represent a landmark moment for renewables policy”.
NZW Director Andrew Montford said:
Government seems to have believed the spin about falling offshore wind costs, and set a low cap on bids for new contracts, thus calling the wind industry’s bluff by accident. Doubtless, the industry will now beg for new and higher subsidies, blaming inflation and supply chain problems. Government should not believe this spin. As global experience shows, wind power is extremely and intrinsically expensive.
NZW Energy Editor Dr. John Constable said:
The CfD auction results are symptomatic of a wider failure of wind power around the world. The industry is in a crisis from which it is unlikely to recover, because its costs are simply too high to be sustainable. The time has come for Government to admit that renewables have failed, and to start looking at realistic energy policies.
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