30 Aug 2024
The new Labour government has made its position on wind energy very clear, and early polling suggests this isn’t going unnoticed, but there’s no denying that enormous challenges remain.
Let’s take a quick look at what the government has done so far.
On her first day in office, chancellor Rachel Reeves announced changes in the National Planning Policy Framework which removed the Conservative government’s de facto ban on new onshore wind farms being built in England.
Consenting is still a major issue, however, the UK Energy Act has committed to reducing approval timelines.
Meanwhile, the new publicly owned company created by Labour, Great British Energy, has partnered with the Crown Estate – which owns the majority of the seabed surrounding Britain’s coastline – to roll out new offshore wind farm developments.
The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, has increased the budget for this year’s auction of renewable energy contracts to record levels, which last year attracted no offshore bidders after the government set the price too low.
Energy regulator Ofgem has also approved a multi-billion-pound subsea cable to transmit renewable electricity between Scotland and England. This will be the single largest electricity transmission project ever. The 311-mile cable will run from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire to Drax in North Yorkshire. Construction is planned to start later this year, with the new connection due to be operational by 2029.
All these early moves clearly indicate the government’s ambitions to accelerate wind energy.
But the same problem remains – grid capacity and connectivity. To put it simply, there are not enough cables to take renewable electricity from Scotland, where it’s mostly produced, to England, where it’s mostly needed.
Scotland is a leader in renewable power, including wind energy, but the UK’s electricity network has failed to keep pace.
According to Scottish Government data, new figures for 2023 show that Scotland continues to generate more electricity than it uses, with net exports to other UK nations worth an estimated £1.5 billion. More than three quarters of the renewable electricity generated in Scotland in 2023 came from wind technologies. We must remember, however, that earnings from Scotland’s energy exports are going to the privately and foreign owned energy companies, not the Scottish Government.
Delays in planning approvals and grid connections has slowed the pace of building battery storage across the UK, meaning that Scotland produces more wind power than can be transmitted down south.
When transmission bottlenecks arise, which is a consequence of the grid's inability to manage excess energy during high-wind periods, wind farms are paid to switch off their turbines and gas stations in England are paid extra to supply the electricity instead. This means this power is not only wasted, but it also costs more.
This is known as 'curtailment' or 'constraint payments' – for more information, read this story on what it's costing taxpayers in Scotland, and the rest of the UK. These costs are passed on to consumers, which means we pay operators a premium to switch off, rather than deliver. Carbon Tracker estimates that wasted wind power added about £40 to the average UK household's annual energy costs in 2023, and could increase to £150 in 2026.
As wind farms continue to expand, and while cable construction upgrades lag behind, costs will undoubtedly continue to increase.
The crux of the issue is the speed at which wind farms are being built compared to the expansion of power cabling required for efficient transmission. Accessing wind power will rely on the government’s ability to support a massive expansion and upgrade of the country’s power networks.
This underscores the challenges faced by the sector in harnessing renewable energy resources and distributing power where it's needed.