Sam Richards is CEO of Britain Remade.
Offshore wind is not only one of the cheapest forms of energy available, but is one of the sectors in which Britain is a true world leader. Along with the biggest offshore wind farm in the world, UK waters are also where you’ll find the next four biggest. Out of the ten largest offshore wind farm developments in the world, seven are off the UK coast.
This is something of which we should be incredibly proud. From Aberdeen to Ramsgate the offshore wind industry is providing thousands of jobs, attracting international investment to our industrial heartlands, cutting energy bills for millions of people, and delivering energy security, to ensure we are no longer reliant on autocratic regimes for our energy.
Despite this success, notwithstanding the rapid advances we’ve seen over the past 15 years, it’s still impossible to build offshore wind farms in the deepest waters. For instance, the world’s deepest fixed-bottom offshore wind farm is Seagreen in Scotland which has a maximum turbine depth of just over 58 metres.
Regardless of what you think of their planned publicly-owned energy company, Labour’s announcement earlier this week that floating offshore wind farms will be the nationalised energy company’s first investment if Keir Starmer gains power is a clear sign of intent.
Whether it is fixed-bottom or floating offshore wind, onshore turbines, new gigawatt-scale nuclear power plants, or state-of-the-art Small Modular Reactors, investing in clean energy is not just about cutting emissions and keeping the lights on, it is about growing our economy and supporting our industrial heartlands and coastal communities. This is why the Government should continue to back clean energy and get Britain building.
Floating offshore wind has the potential to open up thousands of miles of deep-sea for renewable energy development, something that up until now has been out of the question. With few limits on where floating offshore wind could go the rewards would be truly game-changing.
But if history tells us anything it’s that when it comes to the time it takes to build stuff, the UK is anything but world-leading.
If the dream of having an abundant supply of secure domestic energy is to become a reality, urgent reform of the planning system is needed to slash the time it takes to get clean energy projects built.
In theory, it should take 18 months or so to get a planning decision for a major infrastructure project. But this rarely, if ever, happens. Currently, It can take up to 13 years to build an offshore wind farm despite construction of the actual turbines only taking two years.
The planning decision for Hornsea 3 was delayed four times and spent two years sitting on the Secretary of State’s desk before a decision was finally made. Hornsea 4, the follow-up project, was put on hold for five months while ministers decided whether or not to give it the green light.
While the delays mount for clean energy projects so too does the amount of unnecessary paperwork, form filling, and box ticking. The East Anglia Two wind farm, given the go ahead in 2022, was required to submit a 10,961-page environmental impact assessment. Despite the years of work and mountains of paperwork, spurious legal challenges that could stop the whole project are a constant threat to clean energy developments.
Changing planning rules is far easier said than done. To their credit, ministers are trying to make some changes that will speed up the process. But there are fundamental changes needed, such as fixing environmental impact assessments, so they do not stretch to 10,000 pages for renewable projects.
There is simply no way Britain can enjoy a clean energy grid by 2035, which is the Government’s target, and grow the economy while lowering energy bills for people up and down the country if red tape and bureaucracy continue to hold back getting spades in the ground on the infrastructure we need.
Sam Richards is CEO of Britain Remade.
Offshore wind is not only one of the cheapest forms of energy available, but is one of the sectors in which Britain is a true world leader. Along with the biggest offshore wind farm in the world, UK waters are also where you’ll find the next four biggest. Out of the ten largest offshore wind farm developments in the world, seven are off the UK coast.
This is something of which we should be incredibly proud. From Aberdeen to Ramsgate the offshore wind industry is providing thousands of jobs, attracting international investment to our industrial heartlands, cutting energy bills for millions of people, and delivering energy security, to ensure we are no longer reliant on autocratic regimes for our energy.
Despite this success, notwithstanding the rapid advances we’ve seen over the past 15 years, it’s still impossible to build offshore wind farms in the deepest waters. For instance, the world’s deepest fixed-bottom offshore wind farm is Seagreen in Scotland which has a maximum turbine depth of just over 58 metres.
Regardless of what you think of their planned publicly-owned energy company, Labour’s announcement earlier this week that floating offshore wind farms will be the nationalised energy company’s first investment if Keir Starmer gains power is a clear sign of intent.
Whether it is fixed-bottom or floating offshore wind, onshore turbines, new gigawatt-scale nuclear power plants, or state-of-the-art Small Modular Reactors, investing in clean energy is not just about cutting emissions and keeping the lights on, it is about growing our economy and supporting our industrial heartlands and coastal communities. This is why the Government should continue to back clean energy and get Britain building.
Floating offshore wind has the potential to open up thousands of miles of deep-sea for renewable energy development, something that up until now has been out of the question. With few limits on where floating offshore wind could go the rewards would be truly game-changing.
But if history tells us anything it’s that when it comes to the time it takes to build stuff, the UK is anything but world-leading.
If the dream of having an abundant supply of secure domestic energy is to become a reality, urgent reform of the planning system is needed to slash the time it takes to get clean energy projects built.
In theory, it should take 18 months or so to get a planning decision for a major infrastructure project. But this rarely, if ever, happens. Currently, It can take up to 13 years to build an offshore wind farm despite construction of the actual turbines only taking two years.
The planning decision for Hornsea 3 was delayed four times and spent two years sitting on the Secretary of State’s desk before a decision was finally made. Hornsea 4, the follow-up project, was put on hold for five months while ministers decided whether or not to give it the green light.
While the delays mount for clean energy projects so too does the amount of unnecessary paperwork, form filling, and box ticking. The East Anglia Two wind farm, given the go ahead in 2022, was required to submit a 10,961-page environmental impact assessment. Despite the years of work and mountains of paperwork, spurious legal challenges that could stop the whole project are a constant threat to clean energy developments.
Changing planning rules is far easier said than done. To their credit, ministers are trying to make some changes that will speed up the process. But there are fundamental changes needed, such as fixing environmental impact assessments, so they do not stretch to 10,000 pages for renewable projects.
There is simply no way Britain can enjoy a clean energy grid by 2035, which is the Government’s target, and grow the economy while lowering energy bills for people up and down the country if red tape and bureaucracy continue to hold back getting spades in the ground on the infrastructure we need.