Offshore wind developers facing 12-year connections wait

National Grid electricity system operator (ESO) told Orsted it would have to wait 12 years for a grid connection for an offshore wind farm site, the renewables giant has revealed.

In its submission to the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) select committee’s ongoing inquiry into the decarbonisation of power system, the Danish-owned company warns that grid capacity is a key challenge for the offshore wind industry.

It says that when an Orsted project recently applied for a grid connection, the company was provided with connection dates in 12 years’ time due to network capacity constraints.

And it says that “many” projects applying to ESO for a grid connection in 2021 were only given a firm connection date in 2033.

“Providing grid connections on this decade long time scale will mean we will not hit the 2030 target and we will not provide the UK with the secure energy it needs.

“If we are to deliver anywhere close to the 2030 targets and accelerate deployment beyond this date, this issue is going to have to be addressed.”

Orsted is backed up by RenewableUK, which states in its submission to the inquiry that new offshore wind sites leased in the last two years are being offered grid connection dates from 2032 onwards.

A “key part” to solving grid constraints is to enable National Grid to make anticipatory investment in the grid, Orsted says.

This would allow grid upgrades where there is not yet a “100% cast-iron guarantee” all of the investment will be necessary but with the knowledge that offshore wind is developing at such a rapid rate almost all of it will be required.

RenewableUK says the UK’s current system of grid development risks delaying investment, which will prevent the UK from delivering its target of 50GW of offshore wind by 2050.

The renewable generation umbrella body also says that since 2017 “every single” wind farm in English and Welsh waters applying for planning permission has experienced delays in the process, which “cannot continue if we are to meet our 2030 target”.

Ofgem consulted earlier this year on moves to allow greater levels of anticipatory investment in transmission infrastructure.

Last summer also saw the publication by the ESO of the Holistic Network Design (HND), which is designed to provide a more co-ordinated and potentially faster approach to developing the offshore transmission network than the existing system of point-to-point connections between the onshore grid and new wind farms.