UK Champions Offshore Wind to 30GW by 2030 - But Can UK Suppliers Secure 60% Localisation?

2

Apr

2019

UK Champions Offshore Wind to 30GW by 2030 - But Can UK Suppliers Secure 60% Localisation?

The offshore wind revolution in the UK rolls ahead with the last month’s announcement of a £250 million sector deal to drive capacity to 30 GW by 2030 and a third of UK electricity to be sourced from this capacity.

This equates to more than 12 of the 2400 MW Logannet coal fired power station which was Scotland's largest power station (and largest polluter) until its closure in 2016.

The success of the industry in getting contract for differences strike costs down below £60 has been remarkable but the shortage of UK “Tier 1” contractors in the key areas of turbines, blades, foundations, electrical systems and export cables remains a key challenge. The sector deal sets down a strategic objective of 60% UK localisation and exports increase by a multiple of five to £2.6 billion in 2030.

Given the industry’s performance to date it would be brave to bet against the increase in capacity but the localisation and export challenges may proved to be far greater. Meantime, the WindEurope conference taking place this week in Bilbao, Spain will profile the scale of the global market with close to 150 GW global capacity expected by 2030. That’s 62.5 Longannets.