Wind Power: Seas and Oceans

(asked on 2nd June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to establish a (a) unified or (b) nodal offshore wind transmission system.


Answered by
Kwasi Kwarteng Portrait
Kwasi Kwarteng
This question was answered on 10th June 2020

The current approach to offshore wind development allows developers to choose where and when to construct windfarms. Developers can also choose to build the associated transmission assets to bring the energy to shore, before they are tendered by Ofgem to a third party to own and operate. This developer led and competitive approach has led to significant savings for the consumer.

This approach was designed at a time when offshore wind was a nascent sector and industry expectation for deployment was much lower. However, in the context of increasingly ambitious targets for offshore wind the current approach to development of transmission assets may not be appropriate and could become a major barrier to delivery.

BEIS officials are working together with key stakeholders, including Ofgem, National Grid Electricity System Operator and The Crown Estate, to consider an appropriate framework for offshore transmission to support increased ambition for offshore wind.

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