Britain increases wind farm incentives funding to $720 million
LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) - Britain has more than doubled funding available under a scheme seeking to spur investment in offshore wind projects to 544 million pounds ($721.78 million), after higher than expected demand, the government said on Friday.
The country has put offshore wind at the heart of its 2030 clean energy plan and hopes to boost capacity from around 15 GW at present to 43-50 GW by the end of the decade.
But there are worries it could miss targets after one of the largest projects in development, Orsted's Hornsea 4 project, was cancelled this week. The Danish company said it was no longer economic to proceed given rising building costs.
An expansion of the investment incentive scheme which the government calls the 'Clean Industry Bonus' from an initial budget of 200 million pounds to 544 million pounds could help improve the financial viability of new projects.
The scheme will help underpin the economics of projects bidding in Britain's next annual renewable subsidy auction which will be held later this year.
Successful bidders in the Clean Industry Bonus will receive an initial 27 million pounds in funding for every gigawatt (GW) of capacity from offshore wind projects.
It is open to developers investing in regions that need it most or in cleaner supply chains, including traditional oil and gas communities, ex-industrial areas and ports and coastal towns, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said.
"This additional funding has the potential to help secure billions in private investment in new factories manufacturing components for the offshore wind industry across the UK," Ana Musat, Executive Director of Policy at industry group RenewableUK said in the government statement.
($1 = 0.7537 pounds)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Rachel Reeves slashing spending by £5bn in ‘austerity 2.0'
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to announce Labour's spending plans on Wednesday, but analysis suggests she will need to make £5bn in cuts by 2028/29. The cuts are expected across unprotected departments like housing, policing, and local government, excluding NHS England, core schools budget, and defence, with Labour critics dubbing the plans 'austerity 2.0'. The Home Office is expected to bear the brunt of spending cuts, potentially impacting police numbers despite pledges to cut crime. The analysis, commissioned by the Lib Dems, assumes Reeves will not hike taxes and was made before committing £1.25bn to restore winter fuel payments to pensioners. Lib Dems criticised the expected cuts, urging the Labour government to boost growth and avoid spending shortfalls, suggesting a UK- EU Customs Union to boost the economy.
The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Reeves says spending review will be about ‘making working people better off'
Rachel Reeves has acknowledged that not enough people are feeling the progress Labour has made and said her spending review will be about 'making working people better off'. The Chancellor is expected to announce funding increases for the NHS, schools and defence along with a number of infrastructure projects on Wednesday, as she shares out some £113 billion freed up by looser borrowing rules. But other areas could face cuts as she seeks to balance manifesto commitments with more recent pledges, such as a hike in defence spending, while meeting her fiscal rules that promise to match day-to-day spending with revenues. Sir Keir Starmer meanwhile rejected the idea that squeezed police budgets could make communities less safe. The Prime Minister also said that the decision to reinstate most winter fuel payments was not a response to the backlash against the policy. The Chancellor has committed £16.7 billion to nuclear power projects, including £14.2 billion of investment to build the new Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk. Ms Reeves said the Government was 'making Labour choices' and 'making progress' in an address to the GMB Union Congress in Brighton on Tuesday. She said: 'I know that not enough working people are yet feeling that progress, and that's what tomorrow's spending review is all about – making working people better off, investing in our security, investing in our health, investing in our economy. 'This Government is going for growth because that is the best way to create jobs, boost wages, lift people out of poverty, and sustainably fund our schools and our hospitals and all the public services we rely on. 'And we're doing things differently, because unlike the Tories, I don't think that the only good thing that a government can do is get out of the way.' Sir Keir was asked about reports that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was among those concerned that the financial settlement for police in the spending review could lead to crimes not being investigated. 'No, we will be more safe,' he told GB News. The Prime Minister also rejected the idea that he had reversed course on winter fuel payments amid political pressure. 'We had to take difficult decisions in the budget; the economy was broken,' he told Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2. But he cited recent growth figures and falling interest rates as proof that 'the economy has stabilised'. Ms Reeves is under pressure to reverse course on cuts to benefits after she confirmed a U-turn on winter fuel payments that will see them restored to pensioners with an income of less than £35,000-a-year. She stood firm on welfare reforms on Tuesday as a union representative urged her to 'think again' on the cuts. The Chancellor said the current system is 'not sustainable' and that reforms aimed to get those who can work back into work and help 'fulfil the ambitions of people with disabilities themselves to get back into work'. The reforms include plans to tighten the eligibility criteria for personal independence payments, known as Pip.
BBC News
29 minutes ago
- BBC News
Concerns about Guernsey immigration permits and housing
Struggling to pay rent and the removal of medium term employment permits are issues that workers who have relocated to Guernsey hope are addressed by the next 12% of Guernsey's population was born overseas according to the 2023 census, and the BBC spoke to some of them about the issues affecting them ahead of the general election on 18 to the States, 3,424 people were working in the island with employment permits in June 2024, about a 28% increase since June latest States figures revealed the average cost of rental properties was £2,068 a month in the first quarter of 2025, up 51.7% since the same period in 2020. 'Hand to mouth' Social worker Emily Piki moved to the island less than two years ago."There's not enough to accommodate everyone, all the people that are coming, because there's no doubt that there's many foreigners coming in from other places but it really is hard to find accommodation," she said."A one-bedroom flat for example is £1,800, and that's not including bills, and if you look at the minimum wage on your basic hours that is just enough to cover just the rent, maybe not even the bills.""People are living hand to mouth and that's not ideal." Research by specialists arc4 showed that average property prices were over 16 times more than average earnings in 2022.A study in May by the Guernsey Community Foundation found that about 3,200 residents were regularly choosing between heating and Rulamin, who works in hospitality, criticised the island's move away from medium term employment permits, saying short term permits denied access for family members while jobs that allowed long term permits were hard to find."Now, because its long term, there's few positions for long term so I have to be a second chef or head chef and then I can get long-term and I can bring my wife," he said."That's the problem, but now I have a short term licence and I can't bring my wife here."There are lots of people like this." Isabel de Menezes, who moved to Guernsey from Portugal in 1979, wanted the island to be an attractive place for young people to live."It's important that we have an island for our children and our grandchildren no matter where they came from," she said."It's important that they want to stay here, the same as I did," she said."I only came originally thinking I'd stay for five years and I've stayed because of this wonderful place. I've worked hard, I've paid my taxes, I've paid my dues."I want people to want to be here, want to come back, want to work, want to make the island better and keep this wonderful place that we've got, this magic little island."She called for a balance of new candidates and previous expertise in the next States."If we get rid of too many just because, then we're going to end up with a bunch of inexperienced politicians who take a couple of years to get into the system," she must have lived in the island for at least two years before being eligible to register on the electoral roll, or for a total of five years any time before registering.
