Latest news with #CP30
Glasgow Times
11-05-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Glasgow event to see launch of offshore wind report
The Offshore Wind Insight Report, created by Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), will be unveiled at the All-Energy Conference in a breakfast briefing on May 15. The event, sponsored by Deloitte, will take place at Glasgow's SEC. Read more: 'Long-standing' Glasgow business for sale after more than 20 years The report will focus on what is needed to deliver Clean Power 2030 and the future growth of floating offshore wind. OEUK represents more than 400 organisations and businesses across the UK, including those involved in offshore oil, gas, carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen, and wind. The report launch will be followed by three roadshows across the UK. The first will be held at Hull's Village Hotel on May 20, followed by the Norfolk Showground Events Centre in Norwich on May 22, and finally the Cavendish Conference Venue in London on June 4. The breakfast briefing and roadshows for OEUK's Wind Insight report will offer a platform for people to hear more about the government's target of creating a clean power grid by 2030, plus analysis of potential opportunities and the policy framework underpinning this objective. Speakers and panellists for the launch of the Wind Insight report at All-Energy include Colin Maciver, senior director at Cerulean Winds, Sarah Knight, senior development manager (decarbonisation) at Crown Estate Scotland, and Susan McDonald, energy transition lead at Deloitte. Read more: Former STV presenter to compete in international beauty competition Thibaut Cheret, wind and renewables manager at OEUK and lead author of the report, said: "The government's Clean Power 2030 (CP30) target will need between 43 and 51 GW of installed capacity in offshore wind by 2030. "A recent round of offshore wind leases released by Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) will help decarbonise offshore oil and gas production whilst accelerating deployment of the first projects globally at commercial scale but the pace needs to quicken. "Our report will outline what steps need to be taken to achieve this." Tickets for the breakfast briefing in Glasgow are available from the OEUK website.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Despite headwinds, strong ambition remains on clean power targets for 2030
By Emma Moir, Senior Associate at Shepherd and Wedderburn WITH ambitious targets set for the transition to net zero by both the UK and Scottish Governments, the role of Scotland's offshore wind sector has never been more important. The recently published Clean Power 2030 Action Plan (CP30) reinforces the importance of the transition to clean power, and the urgency for more offshore wind, making it clear that delivery of the UK Government's ambition of up to 50GW of offshore wind 'requires a dramatic acceleration in progress compared to anything achieved historically and can only be achieved with a determined focus on pace and a huge collective effort across the industry.' The Scottish Government's ambition is to increase offshore wind capacity by 11GW by 2030. To put that into context, there are currently nine fully operational offshore wind farms in Scottish waters, with a total installed capacity of 2.97GW. Scotland therefore needs to almost quadruple its offshore wind infrastructure within the next five years. Projects currently with consent and to be constructed or under construction will provide approximately 3.5GW of capacity. It is therefore evident that the dramatic acceleration referred to in CP30 is essential to meet the ambitious targets set by Westminster and Holyrood. CP30 recognises the urgency of progressing the current pipeline to meet 2030 targets, noting that 'Accelerating delivery is exceptionally critical for offshore wind, where lead times for projects are often more than a decade. This means that all that can be deployed by 2030 has either already been consented or is in the development and consenting process.' The ScotWind leasing round provided a promising boost to Scotland's offshore wind sector, awarding seabed rights to 20 projects with a combined 27.6GW of capacity, and an additional 13 projects focused on reducing emissions from oil and gas production. Notwithstanding the pipeline that is there to be realised, the offshore wind industry is facing a number of challenges in achieving these targets: increasing costs, supply chain shortages, uncertainty over electricity market reforms and grid pricing increases, uncertainty over timing of upgrades required to the grid network to transmit the clean energy generated, and not least the time that it takes for projects to achieve consents. Taking the 4.1GW Berwick Bank project as an example, the offshore consent application was submitted in December 2022 and awaits a decision almost 2 and a half years on. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill was introduced into Parliament in March 2025 and seeks to streamline the Scottish electricity consents process. This reform is welcome, but what the Bill falls short of doing (notwithstanding a key recommendation of the Winser Report, on which much of the package of reforms is based, was mandatory timeframes for all parties) is prescribing statutory timescales for consent determinations, which would bring the Scottish system into alignment with the equivalent consenting process south of the border. The Bill provides that the Secretary of State or the Scottish Ministers may make regulations specifying a time limit for consent determination. There is, however, no guarantee that such regulations would be forthcoming. One hopes that the Scottish Ministers will utilise the powers to create time limits for decision-making, in turn creating a renewed focus on consenting appropriate projects quickly and driving realisation of a sustainable Scottish offshore wind industry. However, as it currently stands, it remains to be seen whether the promise of improved efficiency will come to fruition and, critically, whether the necessary reforms will be in place in time to meet the ever-looming deadline to achieve 2030 targets. ■ Shepherd and Wedderburn is headline sponsor of All-Energy, the UK's largest renewable and low-carbon energy exhibition and conference, taking place in Glasgow on 14–15 May 2025. Visit the All-Energy hub at
The Herald Scotland
29-04-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Despite headwinds, strong ambition remains on clean power targets
The recently published Clean Power 2030 Action Plan (CP30) reinforces the importance of the transition to clean power, and the urgency for more offshore wind, making it clear that delivery of the UK Government's ambition of up to 50GW of offshore wind 'requires a dramatic acceleration in progress compared to anything achieved historically and can only be achieved with a determined focus on pace and a huge collective effort across the industry.' The Scottish Government's ambition is to increase offshore wind capacity by 11GW by 2030. To put that into context, there are currently nine fully operational offshore wind farms in Scottish waters, with a total installed capacity of 2.97GW. Scotland therefore needs to almost quadruple its offshore wind infrastructure within the next five years. Projects currently with consent and to be constructed or under construction will provide approximately 3.5GW of capacity. It is therefore evident that the dramatic acceleration referred to in CP30 is essential to meet the ambitious targets set by Westminster and Holyrood. CP30 recognises the urgency of progressing the current pipeline to meet 2030 targets, noting that 'Accelerating delivery is exceptionally critical for offshore wind, where lead times for projects are often more than a decade. This means that all that can be deployed by 2030 has either already been consented or is in the development and consenting process.' The ScotWind leasing round provided a promising boost to Scotland's offshore wind sector, awarding seabed rights to 20 projects with a combined 27.6GW of capacity, and an additional 13 projects focused on reducing emissions from oil and gas production. Notwithstanding the pipeline that is there to be realised, the offshore wind industry is facing a number of challenges in achieving these targets: increasing costs, supply chain shortages, uncertainty over electricity market reforms and grid pricing increases, uncertainty over timing of upgrades required to the grid network to transmit the clean energy generated, and not least the time that it takes for projects to achieve consents. Taking the 4.1GW Berwick Bank project as an example, the offshore consent application was submitted in December 2022 and awaits a decision almost 2 and a half years on. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill was introduced into Parliament in March 2025 and seeks to streamline the Scottish electricity consents process. This reform is welcome, but what the Bill falls short of doing (notwithstanding a key recommendation of the Winser Report, on which much of the package of reforms is based, was mandatory timeframes for all parties) is prescribing statutory timescales for consent determinations, which would bring the Scottish system into alignment with the equivalent consenting process south of the border. The Bill provides that the Secretary of State or the Scottish Ministers may make regulations specifying a time limit for consent determination. There is, however, no guarantee that such regulations would be forthcoming. One hopes that the Scottish Ministers will utilise the powers to create time limits for decision-making, in turn creating a renewed focus on consenting appropriate projects quickly and driving realisation of a sustainable Scottish offshore wind industry. However, as it currently stands, it remains to be seen whether the promise of improved efficiency will come to fruition and, critically, whether the necessary reforms will be in place in time to meet the ever-looming deadline to achieve 2030 targets. ■ Shepherd and Wedderburn is headline sponsor of All-Energy, the UK's largest renewable and low-carbon energy exhibition and conference, taking place in Glasgow on 14–15 May 2025. Visit the All-Energy hub at
