Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Deferred
Paragraph: 60
Current bottlenecks risk stalling 50 GW offshore wind deployment by 2030.
Conclusion
The UK’s offshore wind sector is a success story. The Government has ambitious plans to scale up offshore wind deployment, maximising the potential of the UK’s natural resources. However, unless rapidly addressed, current bottlenecks in the process will stand in the way of the Government achieving its ambition for 50 GW of offshore wind to be deployed by 2030. While we commend the Government for the work being done to speed up the deployment of offshore wind, and to ensure local communities that host critical transmission infrastructure benefit from doing so, it is unfortunate that the Government is only now consulting in these areas.
Government Response Summary
The government states it continues to assess the merits of a long-term target for tidal stream deployment and recognizes the need for tailored subsidy mechanisms for tidal range, subject to value for money and evidence from proposed schemes, rather than addressing offshore wind bottlenecks.
Paragraph Reference:
60
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
34. In setting the amount of ringfenced funding for tidal stream for AR5, the Government has had to consider various factors, including the dynamics of funding within the overall pot for all the pot technologies. The minima for tidal stream allows tidal stream projects first to access up to £10m out of the total Pot 2 budget of £35m. Tidal stream projects are protected in this way from competition from other technologies in the pot. 35. Furthermore, the minima has been set at a level that still strives to achieve a balance between factors including deployment and cost to consumers. Further information on how the rules guiding how the minimum will operate within the allocation process is set out in the Draft Allocation Framework. 36. The Government continues to assess the merits of setting a long-term target of tidal stream deployment, and recognises the role tidal stream power could play in helping the UK to achieve net zero. 37. With respect to tidal range, the Government recognises the need to provide tailored subsidy mechanisms for intergenerational assets with long construction times like tidal range, one of which may be a longer-term CfD or a regulated asset base model. Of course, any proposed tidal range schemes would need to demonstrate strong evidence of value for money in the context of other low-carbon technologies inclusive of life span and costs of decommissioning, as well as details of its associated energy system benefits and environmental impact mitigation strategies before the Government could take a view on its potential, or on the funding models appropriate for exploration.