£12bn Offshore Wind Package Lands Ahead of Cop31
The government has announced £12bn of private money for offshore wind off the Norfolk coast. Timing matters: Andy Burnham is about to travel to the Cop31 climate summit in Turkey, with his green record under fire.
What the Vanguard package covers
The investment comes from the German energy company RWE and the US private equity firm KKR. It will fund two windfarms, Vanguard West and Vanguard East. The state-owned national wealth fund adds another £1bn.
Construction is due to start early next year, and the windfarms should be supplying power by 2030. The government says the package is believed to be the biggest of its kind in UK history.
RWE describes Vanguard as among the biggest offshore wind schemes in Britain. It would generate about 2.8 gigawatts, enough for 3m homes. The company expects the building work to create and support 2,300 jobs a year through its supply chain, plus 100 permanent jobs once the farms are running.
Burnham and the energy secretary speak up
Burnham called the package a "vote of confidence for building in Britain". He said every turbine adds power under British control rather than leaving the country at the mercy of events elsewhere in the world, and that the host communities share in the jobs.
Energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said clean power was creating quality jobs and rebuilding industry while lowering bills. She added that Britain was leading from the front as a renewable energy powerhouse.
SSE made its own announcement the same day. The latest phase of its Berwick Bank B windfarm off the east coast of Scotland would, it said, support 2,600 existing jobs.
The Jackdaw backlash behind the timing
The package arrives as the government tries to calm critics of its decision to approve the Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea. Labour MPs and environmental campaigners have criticised the decision. Burnham is expected to give a speech at Cop31 on Thursday.
A day earlier, ministers turned down what would have been Britain's biggest solar plant. Fahnbulleh rejected the £800m Botley West project, which would have covered almost 3,500 acres near the Blenheim Palace estate. Developers said it could have powered 330,000 homes.
In a letter on her behalf, Margaret Curran wrote that the scheme would cause "substantial harm" to the green belt and the Blenheim Estate, home to the world heritage site Blenheim Palace.
Source: The Guardian