The Crown Estate has this week published a study which confirms the ability of the UK offshore wind sector to meet government targets. The report finds that offshore shore wind can deploy up to 18GW of capacity by 2020 subject to regulatory certainty and timely implementation of the Electricity Market Reform. The sector will also be able to achieve cost reductions and secure a viable level of financial support.
“Our report identifies a range of factors which are central to the on-going success of UK offshore wind and to the industry realising its potential” said Huub den Rooijen, Head of Offshore Wind at the Crown Estate. “These can be summarised as the three C’s: confidence, capacity and coordination. Whilst the sector faces a range of challenges, none of these are insurmountable, provided that appropriate action is taken. The Crown Estate will continue to work with DECC, the Devolved Administrations and Industry in creating favourable conditions that will encourage global capital to invest in the UK offshore wind industry.”
Richard Howard, Chief Economist for the Crown Estate’s Energy and Infrastructure portfolio added that there are three key areas which emerge as being central to the success of offshore wind. These are cost competitiveness of offshore wind against other low carbon technologies such as nuclear, CCS and solar, external factors such as gas prices and regulatory and political support. Mr Howard also said that it is possible to create a virtuous circle of political support and industry investment in order to build critical mass leading to cost reduction and significant deployment of offshore wind up to 2020 and beyond.
The study was conducted by Redpoint Energy Ltd in association with GL Garrad Hassan and involved an extensive review of existing industry research and literature as well as consultations with twenty nine stakeholders from industry and government and modelling of the UK power system.
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