Amber Rudd: “We Will Not Support Offshore Wind at Any Cost”

The UK Government will secure funding for three offshore wind auctions by 2020 under the condition that the industry further cuts down the costs.

This was announced by the UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd, who revealed a new direction for UK energy policy today, setting out her policy priorities and the strategy for putting them into action.

Some 10GW of installed offshore wind capacity is expected by 2020. However, offshore wind is still too expensive, even though the costs of contracts have decreased by at least 20% in the last two years, Rudd said, adding that the Government’s approach will from now on be not to ”support offshore wind at any cost,” and that ”further support will be strictly conditional on the cost reductions we have seen already accelerating.”

“Today I can announce that – if, and only if, the Government’s conditions on cost reduction are met – we will make funding available for three auctions in this Parliament. We intend to hold the first of these auctions by the end of 2016,” Secretary Rudd said.

Rudd urged the industry to accelerate the process of making the technology used more cost-competitive.

“The industry tells us they can meet that challenge, and we will hold them to it. If they don’t there will be no subsidy. No more blank cheques,” Rudd concluded.