Source: AFP
The UK announced on Tuesday that it had awarded 131 new green infrastructure projects in a single tender, including plans for Europe’s two largest offshore wind farms.
The new Labor government welcomed the result to power millions of homes across the island nation with cleaner energy, which followed a similarly unsuccessful auction in 2023 under the previous Conservative government.
“We inherited a broken energy policy, including last year’s disastrous round of tenders which did not give us any successful offshore wind projects,” Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said in a statement.
He said the UK had “achieved a record round of enough renewable energy for 11 million homes, essential to provide energy security for families across the country.
“It’s another important step forward in our clean energy mission by 2030 — bringing Britain energy independence and lower bills for good,” Miliband added.
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The auction awarded contracts for nine new offshore wind projects, including Europe’s largest and second largest wind farms, Hornsea 3 and Hornsea 4 off the Yorkshire coast in northern England.
There were also contracts for onshore wind, solar and tidal energy projects.
But Greenpeace UK campaigner Ami McCarthy said the new plans represented only half of the offshore wind needed to meet the government’s 2030 target.
“This urgently needs to be followed up with a much larger auction next year, as well as investment in faster grid connections, better design and more storage to keep green energy running when needed,” he added in a separate statement.
Labor increased the new contract budget by 50 per cent to attract more business after industry groups blamed last year’s lack of bidders for setting contract prices too low.
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Immediately after winning the election in July, the government of new prime minister Keir Starmer launched Great British Energy, a public body intended to boost investment in domestic renewable energy projects.
Source: AFP
