The UK Government has launched its awaited Clean Power Action Plan, with a focus on a massive ramping up renewables. The 136-page plan sees wind and solar – in particular offshore wind – becoming the backbone of the British electricity system. It says record amounts of new renewable capacity will need to be delivered, alongside reforms to the planning process and major grid enhancements.
The UK currently has 15 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity, with another 16GW under construction or firmly committed. To meet the level required for clean power by 2030, the plan says that this would need to expand by at least another 12GW by 2030.
Photo: Zara Farrar / No 10 Downing Street
The Financial Times quoted a “government figure” saying that next year’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction will need to be “huge” and the biggest ever for the country: “When you think about the long lead times for a project like an offshore wind farm it makes sense to get going with the CfDs now and throw the book at this with a huge auction round as soon as possible, probably next year…It would be the biggest we’ve seen so far.”
Marine Recovery Funds
The Plan highlights the establishment of Marine Recovery Funds. The document covers cooperation between England and Scotland and using these funds to help streamline planning and enhance nature.
‘We will establish industry-funded Marine Recovery Funds into which applicants can pay to discharge their compensation obligations, underpinned by libraries of approved strategic compensation measures. The UK government are engaging with the Scottish Government with a view to reaching agreement on the establishment of, and the delegation of appropriate functions to operate and manage, a separate Marine Recovery Fund for projects in Scotland. The Offshore Wind Environmental Improvement Package (OWEIP) as a whole will accelerate and de-risk the consent of offshore wind projects whilst continuing to protect the marine environment.’
“The winds of change are finally blowing”
Shaun Spiers, executive director at Green Alliance, said: “Achieving clean power by 2030 will be genuinely transformational for the UK energy system, good for households and good for the economy. The government’s new plan sets them up to succeed in 2025, a make-or-break year. They rightly focus on getting unprecedented amounts of offshore wind built, and reforming a queuing system for connections to the power grid that had tied up projects until the middle of the 2030s.”
Doug Parr, the policy director at Greenpeace UK, said: “The winds of change are finally blowing in the right direction. But this roadmap must treble the amount of power generated by offshore wind and solar and double onshore wind, at least, if it’s to deliver the kind of ambition needed to turbocharge our way to a renewably powered future.”
The UK Government’s ‘Clean Power 2030 Action Plan: A new era of clean electricity’ is available online.