The new government is urged to triple the rate of offshore wind turbine installations to help the UK hit its target of a four-fold increase in offshore renewable energy by 2030.
According to a study by Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), the findings of which will be available from Wednesday 7 September, nearly half of the offshore wind projects needed to reach the government's 2030 target are currently only at the concept stage.
Ross Dornan, Lead Author of OEUK's economic report, acknowledges that based on the pipeline of projects at various stages of the development cycle, around 40 projects planned through to 2030, the Energy Security Strategy target is potentially achievable.
Dornan does note there are "uncertainties" and "risks". He said that: "This scale of installation is very ambitious and it will require significant improvements to the regulatory and permitting process".
"Of the potential capacity additions before 2030, 46% (almost 18.5GW) is only at concept stage. History shows that it takes around 13 years to progress from concept and application state through to operations".
"This means that the UK’s 50GW ambitions will only be achieved if this can be sped up".
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