UK offshore wind power costs tumble 32 per cent in four years

UK offshore wind power costs have plummeted by almost a third in four years, putting the technology on course to soon be level with the cost of conventional power generation, a report by the UK’s Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult (ORE) has revealed. The study suggests the offshore wind sector has beaten the UK government’s target of driving down generation costs below £100 per megawatt hour a full four years ahead of schedule, with new projects reaching an average levelised cost of £97/MWh during 2015/16, according to yesterday’s report.

RSPB & Renewables – Blog expanding on their position

Renewable energy is widely accepted to be a vital part of efforts to minimise climate change. Like all man-made developments, renewable energy installations alter their environment and poorly sited structures can have significant negative consequences for wildlife. Our job as applied ecologists is to understand how, why, where and when renewable energy developments have these consequences, in order to help decision makers site projects in the least damaging places, balancing the needs of climate change mitigation and nature conservation.

This issue features five papers addressing the interactions between wildlife and renewable energy structures.

Click here to read the blog and access the papers