The UK will miss a key target to install 50 gigawatts (GW) of wind power by the end of the decade unless major changes are made to the grid, according to a government-commissioned report.
The 50GW target is at the heart of the government’s plans to phase out more polluting types of electricity generation by 2035, while also boosting energy security.
Tim Pick, who was appointed last year as an “offshore wind champion” to independently advise government and industry on the development of the UK’s offshore wind sector, said installing 40GW of wind power by 2030 “may be achievable” – but this falls short of the target.
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Sky News has previously reported that wind generators already make more electricity than the grid can handle because of a lack of cables to transmit electricity from the north to the south of the UK.
This has resulted in British consumers paying hundreds of millions of pounds to turn wind power off, and gas generators on, closer to the source of demand.
The independent report warns this is one of the major limiting factors to industry progress.
“If you take just one message from this report, it should be the urgent need to upgrade our national grid for a world of high renewables penetration, and widespread electrification of homes and businesses,” the report said.
“Grid connections are increasingly becoming the rate-limiting factor for our offshore wind deployment going forward.”
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It urged the government to roll out the National Grid’s planned Holistic Network Design – which will connect 23GW of offshore wind to the UK – on “almost a wartime footing”.
The offshore wind industry has also been calling for faster connections to the grid – with some projects waiting years to be hooked to the system.
‘A sick joke’
The GMB union described the report as “damning”.
General secretary Gary Smith said: “The government’s wind energy targets are slipping out of view and the promise that tens of thousands of skilled jobs would be created here in the UK looks like a sick joke.
“We need urgent reform and investment in our energy infrastructure and manufacturing base – otherwise working people and their communities will once again pay the price.”
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Government to consider recommendations
In a written response, Energy Secretary Grant Shapps said the government would “carefully consider” the recommendations in the Pick report.
“With the most installed capacity in Europe, the UK is a world leader when it comes to offshore wind, being home to the first, second, third and fourth-largest offshore windfarms in the world,” he said.
“The government has made real progress delivering the ambitions set out in the British Energy Security Strategy and is committed to accelerating deployment to develop up to 50GW of offshore wind by 2030, with up to 5GW from innovative floating wind.”
