FOREIGN firms on Friday seized the lion's share of the development contracts to kickstart a wind revolution in offshore Britain that ministers say will eventually match the glory days of the North Sea oil industry. But Gordon Brown said he was still confident that UK supply firms could win many of the £75bn worth of contracts needed to build enough clean power to generate 25 per cent of the country's electricity.
Nine wind power consortiums have signed agreements with the Crown Estate, which has responsibility for renewable power in UK waters, to take their proposals through the planning stage.
Only five of the nine have British companies involved in the partnerships — two of those with minority stakes — and the pace was largely set by Germany with E.ON, RWE and Siemens, who were all substantial winners. Centrica, the parent group of British Gas, was the only British group with a majority holding in any of the winning consortiums, but Scottish Power and SSE Renewables took a stake in development areas such as the Dogger Bank and Firth of Forth.
The proposed windfarms will be further away from the coast and in deeper waters than any existing offshore project, and therefore more difficult to build. But they will also be far less likely to be held up by planning objections that blighted development of onshore wind power.
Britain already leads the world in the deployment of offshore wind and has more projects installed, in planning or in construction than any other country.
But the issue of British jobs has become politically sensitive since E.ON awarded 90 per cent of the £2bn — worth of supply contracts for the world's biggest windfarm — London Array off Kent — to German and other overseas firms.
Brown said the new round of wind licences provided a substantial platform for investing in local industrial capacity. “The offshore wind industry is at the heart of the UK economy's shift to low carbon and could be worth £75bn and support up to 70,000 jobs by 2020,” he said, adding “I am definitely going to do everything I can to bring these jobs to Britain.”
The business secretary, Lord Mandelson, and the energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, were similarly upbeat, saying there were already engineering and other companies around the UK gearing up to win a slice of the action. Miliband said it would damage British companies' exports abroad if the government at home insisted developers used UK suppliers. Many of the developers represented at the contract awards in London expressed their own optimism that UK firms could rise to the challenge, but made clear they would press on regardless. Eddie O'Connor, chief executive of Mainstream Renewable Power, a partner of Siemens on the Hornsea zone, said “We have to buy the cheapest wherever you can get it.”
The new windfarms announced on Friday should produce as much power as eight Drax coal-fired stations. They were welcomed by Greenpeace, which said the technological challenge should be relished.
“Throughout its history Britain has shown the determination and ingenuity to tackle the great industrial challenges of each era. In the 21st century these qualities are being called on once again, to enable the transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable sources of energy. Our country is home to some of the best engineers, mechanics and construction professionals in the world. Their expertise will be crucial if we are to harness the massive potential that new technologies like offshore wind have to offer,” said Greenpeace executive director, John Sauven.
But while ministers and the developers were excited about the prospects of making a substantial difference to Britain's security of supply as North Sea oil and gas run out, as well as help beating UK climate change targets, they also acknowledged the scale of difficulties. The Crown Estate said it hoped to see 32GW of new wind power come on stream, but had set no minimum, and its director of marine estate, Rob Hastings, admitted “it depends on what we encounter” on the way.
—The Guardian, London