Hogan Lovell OffshoreBook 2023 230809 OnlinePDF - Flipbook - Page 274
274
United Kingdom
Since the first offshore wind lease in the UK
was signed in 2000, the industry has grown
rapidly and is continuing to expand fast, as
an ever-expanding group of international
developers and investors look for more opportunities in the sector. The UK is now host
to one of the largest existing deployment
of offshore wind energy in the world, with a
large number of further fixed-bottom and
floating projects already in construction or
in the development pipeline.
In figures published by the Office for National Statistics in 2021, wind energy generation
accounted for 24% of total electricity generation (including renewables and non-renewables) in 2020, with offshore wind accounting
for 13% and onshore wind accounting for
11%. Since then, the importance of offshore
wind to the energy balance has continued to
grow, as more offshore wind projects have
been completed and more capacity has
become operational. 3
Offshore wind energy powers the equivalent
of more than 39% of British homes every
year and the cost of new offshore wind
halved between 2015 and 2020. 2
2
https://www.renewableuk.com/page/WindEnergy
3
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/windenergyintheuk/june2021
