Offshore wind official cites importance of 'phased' ScotWind projects

Thibaut Cheret, wind and renewables manager at OEUK, told The Scotsman that while the programme of large-scale offshore wind developments faced challenges, key work was underway.

It comes as OEUK stressed the “critical” need for a record increase in offshore wind capacity in order to meet the UK government’s 2030 goal, with a new report by the body warning of a shortfall in capacity unless there is action taken to address price inflation, capital cost, and UK supply chain competitiveness.

Such pressures were cited by the Danish firm, Ørsted - which is involved in ScotWind initiatives - when it scrapped its plans for the vast Hornsea 4 development off the East Yorkshire coast, a decision that has caused unease and nervousness throughout the wider industry.

Only last week, The Scotsman reported that some ScotWind developers have asked Crown Estate Scotland to extend their current ten year option agreements by a further five years because current market conditions have made it challenging for them to meet their original targets.

Asked if he was aware of developers looking to secure such extensions, Mr Cheret did not reference any individual companies or consortiums, but stressed that as a whole, the scale of ScotWind - in total, the 20 projects awarded in 2022 could provide nearly 30GW of new capacity - meant that it was best delivered stage by stage.

‘It makes sense to phase the process’

He said: “They will stay close to their discussions. ScotWind is so big, it makes sense to phase the process. It’s better to have a nice steady pipeline, a ramp up, and then a nice steady pipeline.

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“Rather than rushing things and you trip, it makes sense to phase the project. You will learn from the early ones who were able to take more risk.”

Asked how acute the challenges facing offshore wind energy were for the raft of ScotWind projects, Mr Cheret pointed to issues surrounding grid connections and the need to carry out upgrades.

He added that the proposed marine recovery fund - an industry-funded set of strategic measures to compensate for adverse effects of offshore wind developments on marine protected areas - would also help.

He added: “Part of ScotWind is also floating wind, so we need to be able to ramp up resources for test and demonstration projects to step up and to learn. They need a specific way to go to market.

“With floating wind, we don’t know what the best base is at the moment - we know what to put on top, but we need to understand the base design so we can mass produce.”

UK set to fall short of 2030 target

Mr Cheret was at the All Energy conference in Glasgow on Thursday to launch a new OEUK report which laid bare the challenges facing the UK government’s ambitions to deliver clean power by 2030.

It pointed out that while offshore wind installations would generate much of the future low carbon energy mix, unless the pace of change quickens, the UK stands to achieve only 35GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030, some way short of the target of between 43 and 51 GW.

Mr Cheret added: “Meeting the government’s 2030 target means securing £15 billion of private investment in offshore wind each and every year between now and 2030. The government’s next contract for difference auction in allocation round seven (AR7), which incentivises new low carbon electricity generating projects, will need to secure historic levels of renewable energy procurement.

“With the flexibility to supply oil and gas installations or the national grid, floating offshore wind will become a critical tool for delivering Clean Power 2030 and beyond. Offshore wind leasing rounds released by Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) under the auspices of Crown Estate Scotland are helping decarbonise offshore oil and gas production whilst accelerating deployment of the first floating offshore wind project at commercial scale.

“As floating offshore wind projects will have access to windier areas in deeper waters around the UK, it is set to become the growth engine beyond 2030 with investment likely to overtake fixed-bottom wind in 2033. More than 50 years oil and gas experience means that our UK supply chain is well equipped to capture a sizable stake of the floating wind market, but a significant portion of the spend required is beyond the reach of many UK companies, which highlights the need for strategic investment in innovation, skills and infrastructure.”

‘Force nine gale of events’

The conference also heard from Chris Stark, head of mission control for Clean Power 2030 at the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, who said that there was a “force nine gale of events happening around us,” and expressed disappointment at Danish firm Ørsted’s move to scrap plans for a major offshore wind farm off East Ayrshire.

Addressing the same event, Professor Sir Jim McDonald, the principal of the University of Strathclyde, said an investment of around £40 billion a year in energy infrastructure was required between now and 2030.

“We’ve been talking about this for a long time, and I fear the sand in the hourglass is running down in terms of our ability to deliver in the timescales Chris refers to, and we really do need to get moving,” he told the conference. “We have to move at pace.”