Comment
Harnessing the potential of UK wind in the renewables mix: Politics, planning & community engagement
The recent launch of the Government’s Contract for Difference (CfD) consultation has shone a light on some of its key priorities for renewable energy in the near future.
In addition, the announcement from Government that it will remove a block against onshore wind and solar power projects by allowing schemes to compete for subsidies alongside offshore wind projects, demonstrates an appreciation of the pivotal role onshore renewables will need to play in the UK’s future energy mix.
In its latest report on net zero, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) advised that the UK could require four times the amount of renewable generation from today’s levels, requiring sustained and increased deployment between now and 2050. The transition to a net zero greenhouse gas economy will require change across the whole of society.
Underpinning this, scientists have reported a trend of increased wind speeds since 2010, marking a major reversal in decreasing wind speeds over the previous three decades. This could help increase the amount of renewable electricity generated by each turbine by more than a third by 2024.
Against this positive backdrop we explore how realistic is it that the power of UK wind resource can be harnessed to its full potential and how central and local planning policies, alongside effective community engagement, need to play a role in the future delivery of renewable energy.
Offshore wind
In its CfD document the Government places much emphasis on the potential for offshore wind, particularly floating turbines.
Offshore wind currently powers the equivalent of 4.5 million homes annually and will generate over 10% of UK electricity by the end of 2020. There is an expectation that the UK will have an additional 1.1GW of offshore wind energy operational by April this year and the Government has pledged to deliver 40GW of installed capacity by 2030.
This is a sector where there are some interesting developments happening. A key example is the development of floating turbines as opposed to conventional bottom-fixed offshore wind, which have the potential of producing significantly more energy than traditional models.
Hywind, an innovative new project which is utilising floating wind turbines attached to the seabed, is currently being piloted in Aberdeen by Norwegian energy giant Statoil. At 176m from the water’s surface to the tip of the blade - and extending another 78m under water, where they are chained to the seabed - Hywind’s turbines officially opened last October and now have been connected to the Scottish grid. Costing close to £200 million, the 30MW farm sits around 15 miles from Peterhead and is large enough to generate power for around 20,000 homes.
The benefits / advantage of the floating approach is that it allows turbines to be installed in deeper waters. Hywind is situated in water depths of close to 130m, whereas farms directly fixed to the seabed are found in depths of up to 50m.
The initial trial has been a success and calls for the area to become an Energy Transition Zone to combine all the harnessed natural renewable energy sources and CCUS. However, this is estimated to take 10 years to develop and will require an investment of £60 million [1].
Work is also being undertaken on the development of larger scale standard offshore schemes. Construction on the world’s largest offshore wind site began last month at Dogger Bank Wind Farm in East Yorkshire, a joint venture between SSE Renewables and Equinor. Comprising three offshore wind farm sites in the North Sea (Creyke Beck A, Creyke Beck B and Teesside A) and totalling 3.6 gigawatts (GW) Dogger Bank will be home to the largest offshore wind turbines in the world- GE’s Haliade-X. These are capable of generating enough renewable energy for over 4.5 million homes each year.
Onshore wind
The CCC has suggested that the UK’s onshore wind capacity should increase by almost threefold in the next 15 years to meet climate goals at low cost.
This would require the UK to grow its onshore wind capacity from 13,000MW now to 35,000 MW by 2035, or an average of more than 1,400MW a year.
Onshore wind is one of the cheapest low carbon technologies in the UK, quick to build and, according to a succession of polls, its popularity is growing.
However, the Government’s block on Government support for new onshore wind farms, which was put in place by former Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015 and prevented onshore wind developers from competing for support contracts (critically important for onshore wind achieving its end goal of becoming subsidy free), has had a significant impact on onshore output.
The rollout of new onshore wind capacity fell by nearly 80% last year, to the lowest level since 2011 with only one new wind farm developed.
The announcement of the Government’s U-turn on this issue signals a shift in the right direction and potentially opens up opportunities for new onshore wind generation in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. ScottishPower, a major developer of renewable energy, has already started planning for a major expansion of onshore wind farm projects across Scotland in anticipation of the Government U-turn on support for wind power. It is also beginning to look to Ireland.
Renewables in ROI
The Irish government’s Climate Action Plan published in mid-2019 outlined an ambition to move Ireland to 70% electricity generated from renewable sources by 2030.
Under the Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS), which is still subject to EU state aid approval, renewable energy projects in Ireland will bid for capacity in a series of auctions through 2020 to 2027. It is anticipated that the first auction (RESS 1) will take place in June 2020 [2].
In addition, the previous Irish Government’s proposed Marine Development Bill planned changes to the assessment of offshore renewable energy projects. Should a new government (which has not yet been formed) bring these changes into force, it is understood that An Bord Pleanála would be responsible for granting permissions for offshore wind farms, with local authorities in coastal areas also having a role [3].
As in the UK, polling shows high levels of public support for wind energy in Ireland. However, as with the UK, support for wind farms at local level is often far less apparent.
Potential barriers for onshore wind
It is a moot point as to whether the changes to the UK’s CfDs will have a positive impact on the number of onshore farms developed, particularly in England.
In England, wind farm developers will need to comply with tough new proposals on community consent to qualify for the auction process. Those hoping to build a wind farm also need the ‘consent’ of the local community to meet a change in planning policy implemented by the Conservative government in 2015. This change to planning policy, widely regarded as a deliberate move to veto new onshore wind farms in England, remains out of kilter with planning requirements for other types of infrastructure, energy and otherwise.
For some, this raises the familiar barrier of local protest with the power to wield influence over decision makers. And there is an expectation that this will lead to few applications being submitted or accepted.
But others argue that the tide may well be turning. With increased awareness of the ‘climate emergency’ we are facing, public opinion appears to have shifted over the last five years - even amongst Conservative voters who have been traditionally less likely to support such developments in the countryside.
A survey conducted for 10:10 Climate Action (2016) found that nearly three quarters of people across Conservative constituencies supported onshore wind and nearly the same proportion said they would be happy to live within five miles of turbines. Only six per cent would actively oppose developments.
The Government’s own opinion polls (2019) show 78% of people are supportive of onshore wind farms. The question facing re-energised wind developers seeking to bring forward onshore projects is - how to target and capture this growing group of supporters, against a background of localised and historical objection?
Political and community engagement
Despite this growing positivity, in order to ensure the potential for onshore wind is met there is a clear need to ensure community ‘buy in’ - something which the Government acknowledges in its CfD consultation paper and which will be important across all new energy technologies. The Government also cites a 2014 Best Practice Guidance document produced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as providing a model for developers.
Arguably, however, the Government needs to take bolder and more proactive steps in order to revive the slump in wind farm development. The development of new wind farms, both onshore and offshore, along with solar renewable technologies, needs to be promoted positively in national - and local - planning policy. This would support the work developers are undertaking with communities to strike a balance between environmental impacts, energy outputs and economic benefits, including identifying opportunities for communities hosting wind farms to benefit directly from them.
Likewise through demographic targeting and pro-active communications campaigning, utilising the power of social media tools, and the broader media and public narrative surrounding climate change, developers who contribute positively to this discussion stand to benefit by capturing greater public support than may have been expected 10 years ago.
Repowering
It should be noted that repowering of existing wind farms will be an increasingly important issue over the next few years with an increasing number of the 25 year planning permissions coming to an end, in addition to the end of the operational lifetimes for turbines. This will lead to a decrease in the UK’s wind generating capacity unless existing wind farms are replaced. Replacing these turbines creates various challenges - not least as it will entail swapping older, ‘smaller’ turbines with fewer, but much larger, modern turbines. It is perhaps through emerging Local Plan policies and applications for redevelopment of these existing farms, that central and local government and developers could ‘test the waters’ with a new partnership approach to onshore wind.
Future of wind
It is clear that we are at a crucial point in the adaptation of renewable energy generation. Wind - with its key benefits as a cost effective, carbon free, quick to build energy source with national and local economic benefits - is fundamentally important. However, it remains to be seen whether, when the Government publishes its response to the Contracts for Difference consultation and with further policy and investment decisions, the full potential of UK wind power will be realised.
For more information about how our experts can provide advice and support please contact our Planning, Strategic Communications or Sustainability teams.
27 March 2020
[1] Call for north east of Scotland to be 'energy transition zone'
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