The UK government has pledged to “rip up” red tape and bureaucracy for offshore wind developers in support of its mission to turn the country into a ‘clean energy superpower’ by 2030.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticised the “volume and inconsistency” of planning and regulatory hurdles for failing to provide a clear pathway for investment in the sector.
He helped to make this point by citing a two-year delay to ScottishPower Renewables’ 960MW East Anglia 2 wind farm off east England that was triggered by a judicial review after the 75-turbine array was consented in March 2022.
Starmer said the £4bn project had also been required to submit more than 4000 documents in its bid to secure a Development Consent Order.
“This is an important project for the UK that we need to replicate again and again,” he told today’s (14 October) International Investment Summit in London.
“However, as an investor, when you see that sort of inertia, you don’t bother – do you?”
The Prime Minister said in a keynote speech that Ministers were making a raft of additional policy changes to support private investment including founding a National Wealth Fund, establishing Great British Energy and launching an Industrial Strategy.
Britain Remade chief executive Sam Richards responded: “The biggest block on investment in Britain is our sclerotic planning system.
“The government may have lifted the investment ban on new onshore wind, but they must go further in unlocking investment in new clean energy and transport projects.
“This can start by ensuring ministers sign off nationally significant infrastructure projects on time, something, sadly, they are not currently doing.
“Far too often planning rules slowdown or torpedo growth-boosting investments, including the clean energy projects that are essential for the government to hit their 2030 clean grid target.
“In its first 100 days, the new government has made progress, but much more work needs to be done.”
RenewableUK’s head of supply Chain Ajai Ahluwalia said: “With the UK taking a leading role in developing offshore wind, including new floating wind projects, now is the right time to set an industrial strategy for the sector to maximise the industrial benefits and employment opportunities which can be created by attracting billions of pounds in private investment to this country.
“The government couldn’t find a more willing partner than the offshore wind sector. We set out an Industrial Growth Plan for offshore wind earlier this year, identifying specific areas within the supply chain in which the UK can secure new investment and be globally competitive, such as cables, blades and floating platforms.
“A focus on these areas could unlock £25bn in economic activity by 2035, predominantly in our coastal communities which have struggled to secure investment in recent decades.”