Labour eyes 41 GW of UK offshore wind with 51% public stake

A Labour government would install around 41 GW of new offshore wind capacity in the UK by 2030 with a 51% public stake, reinvesting 80% of the profits into more renewables, energy system upgrades and the climate transition.

Labour’s Shadow Business and Energy Secretary, Rebecca Long Bailey MP, announced that plan on Monday, saying that offshore wind development in the country is still too slow. Labour wants to “deploy clean power at the scale and pace needed to deal with the climate emergency.”

The party's “People’s Power Plan” includes the construction of 37 offshore wind farms to produce 209 TWh per year, or enough for roughly 57 million homes. Inspired by Sweden, Norway and Denmark, where offshore wind is mainly in the hands of local publicly-owned companies, Labour says Regional Energy Agencies (REAs) should be the ones responsible for owning, developing and operating the 51% public stakes in new projects. This is in contrast to the current situation, with foreign companies like Ørsted, Vattenfall, Masdar, Iberdrola, Innogy and Macquarie owning significant stakes in the UK projects under construction and in operation.

REAs will also be in charge of the electricity and gas distribution networks and the expansion of the electric vehicles (EV) charging infrastructure, under Labour’s plan. The installation of solar systems at 1.75 million homes is another item on the list of REA responsibilities.

The announcement by Labour comes a few days after it was revealed that new wind farms at sea scheduled for completion in 2023/24 will be selling their power at just GBP 44/MWh. The strike prices achieved in the third contracts for difference (CfD) allocation round will make UK offshore wind cheaper than power from existing gas-fired plants as early as 2023, according to an analysis by Carbon Brief.

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