Confidence blowing into offshore wind as long term political commitment crystalises

Confidence blowing into offshore wind as long term political commitment crystalises

A LONG-term political commitment to offshore wind has brought a gust of confidence to the offshore wind energy sector.

That is the feeling of a senior figure from northern Lincolnshire who provides a key link between industry and Government. Maf Smith, deputy chief executive of trade body RenewableUK, represents a huge sector of the green economy when it comes to lobbying in the corridors of power, while helping ensure the developers do all they can to meet cost reduction targets and encourage UK content in the supply chain.Announcements on further support in the form of subsidy have been welcomed, with an auction process.

Mr Smith, who is from Barton, said: “It has been a strong commitment from Government to the importance of offshore wind and the need to allow companies with the next generation of projects to start preparations.“By the end of this year we can have a new auction which allows, hopefully, a new set of projects to be authorised, and the process towards building then begins from the early part of the next year.“Offshore wind takes a significantly long time to deliver from identifying opportunity to operation, Government appreciates that and to keep that long term strategy in the years ahead is very important.”

Asked if what had been delivered had instilled the confidence and clarity, Mr Smith said: “I think we are there. We will see which projects will come forward for consideration at auction, but I think on a UK-wide basis, this gives a lot of confidence that there will be further investment. We have seen that investors are ready to back offshore wind farms, and while the UK is not alone now in these developments, we still remain the biggest market.

“In the framework from Government we want to make sure we manage the cost of energy and by using this auction process it will drive down the cost. As an industry we are up for the challenge of cost reduction, we have a good record, we are ahead of schedule, on time and on budget.”

Mr Smith is delighted that his home patch is seeing the benefit of a new industry, with Grimsby highlighted at RenewableUK’s annual conference in October as a key beneficiary when it comes to the wind farms’ economic windfall. It was quickly followed up by Green Alliance using it is as a case study as it pressed Government for long term clarity on the support for the sector.
He said: “The Humber as a whole is leading the way for renewables and Grimsby has been a great trailblazer. I am confident that Grimsby will continue to grow and see more work out of renewables. Industry is working really hard to maximise the benefit of this, and we are looking hard at how we can support UK companies to win work right the way through from development and construction, to long term operations.

“It is a demonstration of how the industry is taking seriously the impact and benefit that the projects can and are bringing.”

He sees more to come too.
“There is still a lot more industry can achieve over time as we develop bigger projects and as we see this bigger pipeline. With Siemens arriving (in Hull) and starting to supply UK blades, that is an important development, and there are still companies looking in the supply chain, looking around the Humber, at how it can be developed.
“We have also got UK companies winning work abroad for their products and services. Other offshore markets are emerging, in Europe, China and America. Early UK investment will pay dividends as we export to help these markets.”

The development of storage for generated electricity is also seen as a game-changer for the industry, helping manage the peaks and troughs that come.
“There are wider challenges about storage, but for offshore, onshore and solar the benefits are clear. “Renewables are variable, but can be managed at very short notice, which is really useful for frequency response and keeping the quality of power right, which is important thing as National Grid manage all that.

“Storage has a much bigger role to play, and we have already seen the market responding to that.”

This article first appeared in Renewing the Humber, an offshore wind sector special. Read the eBook here. – https://issuu.com/grimsbytel/docs/renewingthehumber31mar16
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