The UK government has announced a raft to measures to help up to 13 offshore wind projects with a total capacity of around 16GW discharge their consent conditions by preventing delays caused by insufficient environmental compensation measures being agreed.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed plans to make it easier for ministers to designate or extend Marine Protected Areas of the seabed as a way of delivering strategic compensation for the environmental effects of the new developments in marine conservation areas.
This facility to request MPA designation – which offers the highest level of protection to a range of marine habitats, with the cost of their designation and management funded by developers – is expected to be made available to projects leased under the Crown Estate’s Leasing Round 3 and Round 4, its 2017 Extensions Round and the in-progress Celtic Sea Round 5.
Reeves added: “We are removing barriers to delivering 16GW of offshore wind by designating new Marine Protected Areas to enable the development of this technology in areas like East Anglia and Yorkshire, crowding in up to £30bn of investment in homegrown clean power.”
The government has also confirmed the creation of a Marine Recovery Fund to deliver strategic and co-ordinated environmental compensation measures, including the MPAs, on behalf of multiple projects.
The dedicated collective fund, to be launched later this year, will be paid for by developers to make it easier for mitigation measures to protect biodiversity to be implemented across multiple schemes instead of on a project-by-project basis.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has published interim guidance on how the fund will operate.
RenewableUK’s environment and consenting co-programme manager Kat Route-Stephens said: “Today’s announcement and guidance publication will help unlock billion of pounds of investment in new offshore wind farms and the pave the way for many more to come.
“This system provides greater certainty to wind farm developers as well as strategic and co-ordinated action to support the natural environment. A win-win for nature, the economy, billpayers and the planet.”
Beccy Speight, RSPB chief executive, described the moves as a “positive step”.
She said: “Offshore wind is critical to addressing climate change and the announcement of new Marine Protected Areas is a positive step towards ensuring renewable energy doesn’t come at the cost of the marine environment.
“Minister Hardy’s speech today at the Coastal Futures conference recognised the UK’s seabirds face a barrage of pressures and that urgent action is needed to tackle devastating population declines, but progress at sea must go hand-in-hand with safeguarding and restoring nature on land.
“To provide investors with the certainty they need and avoid costly delays, the (forthcoming) Planning and Infrastructure Bill must deliver an improved system fit for purpose with a strategic approach to development that builds nature into decision making from the start, rather than pretending it’s a problem to simply be bulldozed out of the way.”