Doubts have emerged over whether the government’s flagship 2030 clean power target can be met on time, after the UK boss of RWE admitted that several newly awarded offshore wind projects are unlikely to be operational by the end of the decade.
The German energy group was the biggest winner in the government’s latest offshore wind subsidy auction, securing five of the six contracts awarded. Ministers hailed the outcome as a major step towards delivering Ed Miliband’s ambition of a near-fully decarbonised power system by 2030.
However, speaking after the auction, Tom Glover, RWE’s UK chief executive, said it was unrealistic to expect all five projects, with a combined capacity of 6.9 gigawatts, to be generating power by that deadline.
Asked directly whether the projects would be online by 2030, Glover said: “Probably not.”
Three of the five RWE projects are contracted to begin operations in the 2030–31 financial year, making delivery before the end of 2030 “difficult”, he said. Two of the largest schemes, located at Dogger Bank off the east coast of England, are still awaiting planning consent, with a decision recently delayed until the end of April.
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