Offshore Wind to Remain UK’s Cash Cow in 2016

Offshore wind projects in construction across the UK in 2016 will generate GBP 5.9 billion of investment within the country over the next five years of development and construction activity, according to RenewableUK.

Construction activity is currently underway on six offshore wind projects, with onshore substations being built and cables being laid. These projects have a combined capacity of more than 2.6GW.

Building work will start on another five offshore wind projects during 2016, adding a further 1.9GW. This means that more than 4.5GW of offshore wind capacity will be under construction in 2016 – enough to meet the needs of over 3 million homes.

These sites will nearly double the UK’s current offshore capacity of 5.1GW by the time they go fully operational by the end of the decade, RenewableUK says.

“The UK’s wind energy infrastructure pipeline remains healthy in the immediate term, continuing to bring billions of pounds of investment to British companies across the supply chain and supporting 35,000 jobs,” RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Maf Smith said.

“No Government would want to jeopardise the successful future of such an industry. Government understands this and has set out a long term framework for offshore wind, allowing industry to plan ahead. This means we can attract investment, bring down costs and secure the UK supply chain. This needs to be replicated across the wider renewables sector.”