The UK Government will need to spend £48 billion on installing new wind turbines, double what it spent in the last decade, if it wants to reach its target of 40GW of offshore wind power by 2030, according to according to the renewable energy analysts Aurora.
To meet the goal it is estimated that 260 wind turbines will have to be installed a year — one every working day.
The offshore wind capacity currently stands at 10GW in the UK, up from just 1GW in 2010. With a further 10GW already contracted, there is currently a 20GW shortfall.For a contract under a different scheme, increasing the capacity of 40GW will cost an additional
£2 billion a year in top payments — five times what the current budget allows.
Reaching the 40GW target will require a vast increase in the deployment rate of offshore wind turbines alongside significant capital investment according to MoneyPug, which is an
energy comparison site.
Further planning for wind turbines will have to be approved in record time and the impact of higher levels of renewables will reduce offshore wind to capture prices and a subsidy system that will require a larger budget.
If this is to be achieved, there will be wide implications for investors in the power system that represent significant involvement in the electricity market. Increasing the UK’s offshore wind capacity was one of the flagship energy policies for the Tories in the UK.
Energy suppliers warn that achieving the target will be tough, requiring collaboration between Government, industry and stakeholders to unlock the pipeline of projects.
Overall, Europe installed
a record 3.6GW of offshore wind in 2019 according to statistics from WindEurope.
Out of the ten brand new offshore wind farms across five countries, the UK accounted for almost half of them, with its new capacity at 1.7GW.
They were followed by Germany, at just over 1GW, Denmark at 374MW, Belgium at 370MW, and Portugal at 8MW produced by floating wind offshore wind farms.
The average size of offshore turbines installed last year was 7.8MW, including a 12MW offshore wind turbine installed in the Netherlands.
The potential for growth is large, although it will remain tough for the UK, which already has the majority of wind energy in Europe.
Auctions in the UK last year were cheaper for consumers than building new gas, coal, or nuclear plants.
This gives the UK hope that the future will lead to cheaper production of wind turbines.
With 40 wind farms already built, the UK will have a harder time expanding into the new decade than the countries with less farms — but since the UK offshore weather is ideal for the technology, production will continue to slowly increase.
Ofgem, the UK regulator for gas and electricity markets, recently launched its Decarbonisation Action Plan which aims to ensure a path to a net-zero future.
This includes supporting the expansion of renewable energy while facilitating the adding of ten million electric vehicles on the roads by 2030.
It plans on supporting the development of an offshore grid that will help increase offshore wind generation four times by the year 2030.
In March of last year, the UK set the target to 30GW of connected capacity by then.
While it will be more difficult for the UK to manufacture new wind farms, the country has a plan to do its best to continue expanding and remain the number one wind energy producer in the world.