Brits 'to miss out on £1bn' after NO offshore wind farms commissioned

Brits ‘are set to miss out on £1bn in energy bill savings’ after NO new offshore wind farms are commissioned in ‘disastrous’ government contract process

Brits face losing out on an estimated £1billion in energy savings after a ‘disastrous’ government contract process for offshore wind farms.

No new developments have been commissioned in a key annual auction amid claims ministers had capped the value of the bids too low. 

The news is a blow to the government’s Net Zero drive, with offshore wind seen as the backbone of the UK’s green electricity ambitions.

The government has a target to deliver 50 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030, from 14 GW today. 

Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit suggested that had the ‘shovel ready’ projects been approved they would have been paying back £1billion per year by the mid-2020s. That is equivalent to around £35 for each household.

Wind farm builders had warned for months that the Government was not taking into account how much their costs had soared during the cost-of-living crisis which has also pushed up prices for businesses.

No new offshore wind farm developments have been commissioned in a key annual auction amid claims ministers had capped the value of the bids too low. File picture of a wind farm off the coast near Redcar

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly stressed the UK remained a ‘world leader’ on offshore wind

Energy and climate change minister Graham Stuart said: ‘Offshore wind is central to our ambitions to decarbonise our electricity supply and our ambition to build 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030, including up to 5GW of floating wind, remains firm.

‘The UK installed 300 new turbines last year and we will work with industry to make sure we retain our global leadership in this vital technology.’

One industry source said: ‘There is no offshore wind and that’s the backbone of our transition to clean energy and attempts to stop using gas, which must be a worry for Government.’

Jess Ralston, Energy Analyst at ECIU, said: ‘The key point here is that even with inflation, offshore wind is still about a third cheaper than gas power stations with the price of gas set to remain higher than before the crisis.

‘The more renewables, the less gas you have to buy. By failing to back offshore wind, the Government has added around £1billion a year to energy bills in coming years. 

‘Combine this with the fudge on lifting the onshore wind ban, and the Government is going backwards on easing the energy bill crisis.

‘New oil and gas licences don’t bring down bills. Offshore wind farms do. Will the Government now try to rerun the auction at a reasonable price?’

Shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband said: ‘The news this morning is an energy security disaster and a £1 billion Tory bombshell that will push bills up for hardworking families. 

‘The Conservatives have now trashed the industry that was meant to be the crown jewels of the British energy system – blocking the cheap, clean, homegrown power we need.

‘Ministers were warned time and again that this would happen, but they did not listen. They simply don’t understand how to deliver the green sprint, and Rishi Sunak’s government is too weak and divided to deliver the clean power Britain needs.

But Foreign Secretary James Cleverly stressed the UK remained a ‘world leader’ on offshore wind.

‘Whilst I can’t comment about the specifics of this bidding process for obvious commercial reasons, the UK has shown that you can cut emissions, grow the economy, stimulates technology because of course there’s loads of high tech stuff to do with offshore wind,’ he said in a round of interviews.

‘It’s a really good success story and one that we should be proud of.’

‘You’re asking me to comment about some event later on today, which I can’t do. I’m not going to guess, I’m not going to speculate,’ he said.

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