Offshore Wind Worldwide Regulatory Framework in Selected Countries 5th Edition 2024 - Flipbook - Page 329
Offshore Wind Worldwide 2024
Offshore Wind in Numbers:3
• The UK currently has more than 15GW of
offshore wind capacity operational but
is seeking to increase that to 50GW by
2030.
•
A record 49TWh was produced during
2023, with total offshore wind operational capacity in the UK being generated by
45 offshore wind farms comprising 2,776
turbines.
•
UK offshore wind supplied the equivalent electricity needs of 50% of UK
households in 2023, and 18.5m tonnes
of CO2 were displaced by use of offshore
wind energy.
•
The UK has 43% of total European offshore capacity, and the total pipeline
of UK offshore wind projects which are
either operational, under construction,
consented, in the planning system or
at an early stage of development now
extends to 93.3GW.
1.2 Expectations as to future developments in the market until 2030 and
beyond
(a) Net-zero
In June 2019, the UK Government passed
ground-breaking and ambitious legislation
in the form of The Climate Change Act 2008
(2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019,
329
which committed the UK to eradicating its
net contribution to climate change by 2050
and making the UK the first G7 country to
legislate for net zero emissions. The legislation was built on the recommendation
of the Committee on Climate Change in a
report published in May 20194. In that report,
the Committee on Climate Change contemplated the future energy mix that would be
required to achieve net zero greenhouse gas
emissions and concluded that this could
require 75 GW of UK offshore wind to be
deployed by 2050.
In October 2020, the UK Government set out
further commitments5 to progress towards
net zero by 2050, including:
•
confirming offshore wind will produce
more than enough electricity to power
every home in the country by 2030,
based on current electricity usage;
•
creating a new target for floating offshore wind to deliver 1GW of energy by
2030, which was over 15 times the current volumes worldwide. Building on the
strengths of the North Sea and the Celtic
Sea, this brand-new technology allows
wind farms to be built further out to sea
in deeper waters, boosting capacity even
further where winds are strongest and is
aimed to ensure that the UK remains at
the forefront of the next generation of
clean energy; and
3 https://www.datocms-assets.com/136653/1720789954-11964_offshorewindreport_2023_final300424.pdf.
4 https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/net-zero-the-uks-contribution-to-stopping-global-warming/.
5 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-plans-to-make-uk-world-leader-in-green-energy.
