Britain’s next offshore wind auction must deliver a record 6GW of new capacity to stay on track for 2030 clean power targets, Siemens Energy has told Reuters.
Darren Davidson, vice president of Siemens Energy UK&I, said the upcoming Allocation Round 7 (AR7) needs to exceed previous rounds to meet government goals of 43–50GW of offshore wind by 2030, up from around 15GW today.
“To keep on track with [clean power 2030] targets, we estimate AR7 will need to clear a record 6GW of offshore wind capacity,” Davidson told Reuters.
The highest volume awarded in a UK auction to date was 5.46GW in AR3 in 2019. Last year’s round, AR6, awarded just over 5GW with £1.5bn in funding.
Davidson made the comments during a visit to Siemens Gamesa’s blade manufacturing plant in Hull, Reuters reported. The site, which opened in 2016, employs over 1,400 people and has more than doubled its manufacturing capacity over the past year.
“The last five years have really proven that when we’ve got that visible pipeline of projects it allows us a greater ability to invest,” he said.
The Hull factory is currently producing 108-metre blades for 100 turbines at RWE’s Sofia wind farm and will begin manufacturing for Scottish Power’s East Anglia Three project this summer, Reuters added.
Siemens Gamesa, part of Siemens Energy, has installed 10GW of offshore wind turbines around the UK coast.