Scottish government raises offshore wind target to 11GW

The Scottish Government has increased its offshore wind installation target to 11GW by 2030 but cautioned that high transmission costs present a barrier to achieving the goal.

The target was raised from its current level of 8GW in a new offshore wind policy statement published by the Holyrood administration, which said 11GW of offshore wind capacity would be enough to power more than eight million homes.

Scotland currently has 5.6GW of consented offshore wind capacity, of which 1GW is currently operational, but the document warned that the high costs of transmitting electricity from Scotland to the main sources of demand around London is a “disincentive” to developing windfarms off the country’s coast.

Such costs represent a “large and increasing” proportion of offshore wind project revenues in Scotland, “unfairly hampering the competitiveness of Scottish projects”, it added.

“The pressure to achieve greater cost reductions is more acute in Scotland due to the higher transmission use of system costs faced by generators here, as a result of their greater distance from GB’s main centres of demand in the south and south east of England.

“Given that Scotland needs to achieve net zero by 2045, and the contribution this will make to the UK 2050 net zero target, it would be in the wider interest of the UK, and in the interest of consumers, for this issue to be addressed by regulators and the UK government.”

The document said the adoption of a net zero emissions target has strengthened the case for “urgent reform” of transmission charges to prevent them from thwarting “investment and progress” in Scotland. It added that Scottish ministers have raised these concerns directly with Ofgem on a number of occasions.

To help bring forward projects, the statement said the Scottish government has adopted a plan identifying suitable areas for commercial-scale offshore wind. This Sectoral Marine Plan will inform the first seabed leasing round led by the newly devolved Crown Estate Scotland, which is pencilled in for 2021/22.

The statement additionally urged the UK government to show “greater ambition” on supporting innovative technologies, like wave and tidal generation as well as floating offshore wind, when the next Contracts for Difference auction takes place next year.

It said a refresh of Scotland’s Energy Strategy, published in 2017, is due to get underway before the end of 2020 and will conclude in 2021.

Responding to the policy statement Ben Miller, senior policy manager at Scottish Renewables, said: “The Scottish government’s statement that 11GW of offshore wind deployment is possible by 2030 means there is much work to do, but this is a milestone moment for the decade ahead.”