Offshore Wind

Earl Russell Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Earl Russell (LD)]

My Lords, I start by welcoming the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, to his position, and I look forward to working with him.

On these Benches, we welcome the results of allocation round 7, which has secured a record 8.4 gigawatts of future offshore wind capacity, including 192.5 megawatts of innovative, floating offshore wind, and seen £22 billion in private investment. This marks an important step forward on our clean power journey and towards our future energy independence—enough clean energy to power the equivalent of some 12 million homes or roughly equivalent to 12% of national energy demand.

This shows that, when properly managed, Britain can lead the world in clean, secure and affordable energy. After the chaos of the previous Government’s failed allocation round 5, which delivered no offshore energy contracts at all, this progress is indeed an enormous relief. This auction confirms what my party has long argued—that offshore wind is the future backbone of our energy electricity system.

Projects such as Berwick Bank in Scotland—set to become the largest offshore wind farm in the world—and the one in Wales, the name of which literally means “sea breeze” and is the first major Welsh project in over a decade, show that progress is being made.

But this is not only about climate targets; it is about our future national energy security. In an increasingly unstable world, every turbine we build reduces our reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets. Securing Britain’s wind power means freeing ourselves from the price shocks of the global gas markets. We should recall that the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that the UK’s energy support response for the war in Ukraine, driven by fossil fuel prices, cost us £78.2 billion over 2022-23 and 2023-24. In contrast, CBI figures show that the green economy grew by 10% in 2024, and AR7 secures an important future pipeline of continued and sustained green jobs and green British jobs.

The UK has some of the best wind resources in the world and, when we harness our renewables—wind, solar and tidal—we strengthen our energy independence. Despite what some may claim, wind power remains the most effective long-term way to bring down energy bills. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit reports that, in 2025 alone, wind generation reduced wholesale electricity prices by around one-third. The average strike price in this round, around £91 per megawatt hour, remains extremely competitive. By comparison, building and running a new gas power plant today would cost around £147 per megawatt hour, making wind power roughly 40% cheaper.

However, we must be candid about the challenges that the sector faces: rising bid prices, driven by global supply chain pressures; high interest rates; and soaring material costs, particularly for copper and steel. I therefore ask the Minister what steps the Government are taking to address these issues so that our 2030 onshore wind targets remain achievable.

The contracts for difference mechanism protects consumers and secures inward investment. It is a policy that has stood the test of time, but it can still be improved. Is the Minister considering extending CfD contract lengths from 20 to 25 years? This could provide greater certainty, lower financial costs and ultimately deliver cheaper electricity. Similarly, we think that moving older renewable projects from more expensive renewable obligation certificates to new CfD contracts could save typical households up to £200 a year.

More broadly, urgent action is needed to reduce energy costs by other means. Now that the Government have ruled out zonal pricing, I ask the Minister what alternative market reforms are being pursued to drive down energy bills. Despite rising renewable generation, gas still sets the market price around 97% of the time. Are proposals being assessed to move gas plants into a regulated asset base? As has been suggested, this could save some £5.1 billion a year by 2028, according to calculations done by Greenpeace. If we do not urgently upgrade and streamline our transmission systems, this record capacity will remain stuck in connection queues instead of reaching our homes and businesses. Does the Minister agree that a long-term, properly resourced spatial energy plan is now urgent and essential to ensure that these connections happen at speed?

The Liberal Democrats have a clear vision for 90% of the UK’s electricity to be generated from renewables by 2030. AR7 is indeed a welcome step on the road, but more must be done to ensure that we reach our targets, reduce the cost of energy bills and update our transmission systems.

[The Minister of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Lord Whitehead) (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lords for their contributions this evening. They were deeply contrasting in both tone and content: one I substantially agree with; the other I do not at all. We need no guesses as to which is which. I am particularly disappointed by the contribution from the Opposition Benches and the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan. I think I have already welcomed him to his place in Questions, but this may be the first time we have sat across the Benches for a Statement or other debate, so a further welcome would not go amiss. I hope this, as it is shaping up to be, will be the beginning of a good debate between us in the House.

It is worth just reiterating what actually happened in AR7 for the House to judge whether this was the miserable failure that the Opposition Benches appear to suggest it was or the great success that I and, I think, the noble Earl, Lord Russell, think it was.

In AR7, we procured 8.4 gigawatts of new, clean, low-carbon power for this country. That is new capacity over and above what we have at the moment and, indeed, represents no less than 40% of the installed capacity of offshore wind so far. In one round, the amount of wind capacity we have has leapt. That is at a clearing price 20% below the administrative ceiling price—a very competitive auction was undertaken—and that is within the bounds of present energy market prices. In the likely future that we see, it is not only below or around market prices; it is also a stable cost. Whereas, of course, we do not know where gas and other energy prices are going because of the extreme volatility in the world, and of gas prices over the last five years.

Interestingly, between this Statement being read in another place and repeated now, gas prices have leapt by nearly 40%. We are in a volatile gas market. Do not forget, prices went up as high as 600p per therm in the period just after the invasion of Ukraine. Compare the volatile price of gas fuels if we go down the energy route suggested by the Opposition—more purchases of unabated gas-fired power stations. Do not forget that this is not only an auction about energy prices and capacity; it is an auction about low-carbon energy prices and capacity. Among other things, if the Opposition had their way, we would apparently invest in a huge number of unabated natural gas power stations. That means we would be locked into that high-carbon system of generating power for perhaps another 30 to 40 years, which would be completely insupportable in terms of anybody’s energy ambitions.

The noble Lord says that he wants our energy policy to be characterised by security, affordability and clean energy. In this round, we achieved a great step forward for our energy security: this is all homegrown energy, not energy coming in on ships from elsewhere, or that is the responsibility of a dictator or a cabal of overseas energy organisations. This is British home-grown local energy that we have procured, and with it a bright future.

On affordability, the noble Lord referred to the levelised cost of energy, which he said was no longer the way to compare prices. That is a little bit surprising, because that is exactly what the last Government did in previous rounds. In the previous round—AR5—they secured precisely zero low-carbon energy, so compare and contrast, if you will, with what we are talking about today.

It is true, as the noble Earl, Lord Russell, says, that the clearing price of this auction ought to be put in the context of what you can do to try to get new capacity on board as far as this country is concerned. You can either buy a series of gas-fired power stations at a cost of £134 per megawatt hour—the levelised cost of energy—or you can procure low-carbon capacity which both meets your climate targets and keeps the prices down on a constant basis of affordability for the future.

The result of the auction is actually good for affordability and for the stability of prices in the future. If we are thinking of building new capacity at £134 per megawatt hour levelised cost of energy as against £91, and we have procured something like five gas-fired power stations-worth of energy output with this auction, as far as we are concerned, there is really no contest.

Finally, as I have said, it is clean energy. This is what I thought we were all committed to for a period in the past. It is extremely disappointing that the Benches opposite appear to have decided to move away from clean energy and go back to gas and dirty energy, which we really cannot sustain as far as our future is concerned.