Public Support for Offshore Wind in UK Still Strong

UK citizens continue being majorly in favour of renewable energy, with offshore wind still boding well on the renewables list, with 77 per cent of people in the UK supporting the deployment of this technology.

This is according to the latest Public Attitudes Tracker survey by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which also shows 73 per cent of people are pro onshore wind and, interestingly, 79 per cent of the public marked the emerging wave and tidal technologies as the preferred in producing clean electricity.

In May, BEIS’s Tracker showed 81 per cent of people were backing offshore wind, 80 per cent wave and tidal, and 77 were pro onshore wind.

Overall, the latest statistics (published on 12 November) show massive public support for the rapid growth of renewable energy projects throughout the UK, with 80 per cent of people being pro renewable energy and only 3 per cent opposing it.

In the May survey results, overall renewables support stood at 82 per cent and only 2 per cent were opposed to it.

In terms of climate change concerns, the latest survey revealed that 82 per cent of people are concerned about climate change, up from 78 per cent in the survey published in May and 81 per cent in August.

Awareness of the UK Government’s net-zero emissions target has also risen to 66 per cent, up from 52 per cent in the survey published in May and 63 per cent in August.

“The sky-high level of public support in this latest poll chimes with the Prime Minister’s announcement that he wants every UK home to be powered by offshore wind by 2030. The industry is on course to achieve that with the mega-projects we’re installing in UK waters during this decade”, said RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Melanie Onn.

To remind, last month the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced commitments to ensure that offshore wind will produce more than enough electricity to power every home in the country by 2030, boosting the country’s previous 30 GW target to 40 GW.

“We can build back better after Covid by putting onshore and offshore wind at the heart of our modern energy system, alongside innovative technologies like renewable hydrogen, floating wind and marine power”, RenewableUK’s Melanie Onn said following the latest survey results. “Our world-class clean-tech industries are bringing billions in private investment to the UK at the very time when we need to create new jobs most”.