Offshore wind ‘at risk’ from grid charges

Three offshore wind developers have warned that changes to transmission charging could put the industry in danger.

Data commissioned by Ocean Winds, Northland Power and West of Orkney Windfarm, said northern Scotland transmission charges are expected to climb by 100% within five years without intervention. It calculates a 1GW Northern Scottish project would cost a billion pounds more through its life to run compared to an equivalent in Southern England.

It said existing projects are also under threat as the charges could erode as much as half of their value.

The study was released ahead of a decision by Ofgem on whether to back a cap-and-floor model to mitigate the costs.

Claire Mack, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: “Scotland’s abundant natural resources should make it the home of the UK’s biggest and most productive renewable energy projects but our outdated transmission charging rules, designed over 30 years ago, are unbalancing how the modern-day electricity network should be paid for which is negatively impacting the development of major sites.”