Government's Right Move in Expanding Wind Capacity through Offshore Industry

The UK's increasing dependency on non-renewable resources such as coal and gas poses a threat to the environment, particularly in terms of carbon credits emission. The Committee on Climate Change will release a report highlighting the power production capacity of established offshore energy wind farms. To achieve the renewable target by 2020, the CEO of a company must collaborate with policymakers to discuss measures to reduce emissions. Recommendations include developing research and innovation programs, redistributing budget allocations for renewable sources, conducting surveys to address acceptance issues, and promoting awareness campaigns about the benefits of conventional energy sources.

University Department
Policy brief: UK offshore wind
industry

Table of Contents
Summary of the issue 1
Employment on rise 2
Challenges 3
Issues related to electricity grid 4
Research & Innovation 4
Effect of Brexit 4
Policy options………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….5
Actions taken by the government……………………………………………………………………………………………………5
Effect of policy development…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..6
Recommended decision…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7
References……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8

SUMMARY OF THE ISSUE
UK offshore wind industry is one of the highly potential industries in the UK. But the
industry is facing various challenges currently and progressing towards an exciting path.
Offshore industry if grown properly will help Europe achieving the targets of renewables in
2020. To have a economically and environmentally strong denomination, UK has to
implement a mix of renewable sources of energy and measures related to efficient energy.
Out of these renewable sources of energy, offshore wind energy play a major role in the long
run because of the following reasons:
 Much of land is not required for set up
 It does not have any adverse impact on the environment and the people
 The generation profile is predictable(Boyle, 2006)
UK import majority of the fuel and thus have heavy dependency on the non-renewable
resources thus the wind energy can contribute to balance this. Right now, 80% of the
electricity demand in EU is met by offshore wind energy plants, but the wind has a capacity
of producing around 10 times electricity which is required by the region. So, offshore wind
can help Europe meeting 100% of the domestic requirements.
To keep this running, the government has to set up some sustainable and energy efficiency
measures to keep the system up and running. Non-renewable resources like coal and gas will
get depleted one day, with their adverse effect on the environment.(Boyle, 2007)
EMPLOYMENT ON RISE
Europe is currently the leader in offshore wind industry and employs around 238,000 in 2010.
If more offshore wind energy will be deployed in the region, the employment will be on rise
and the turnover will go into the economy.
For the mitigation of climate change, power sector in UK needs to be decarbonised. One way
to do that was nuclear energy and through carbon capture & sequestration. But they have
declined in UK now, so the only way to decarbonise power is through renewable sources.
(Cassidy &Cooksley, 2001)
Some of the areas with high potential of offshore wind, are having a good population, but
then also unlike oil and gas offshore, wind offshore requires very less land usage. Moreover,
the power produce is predictable. So with the vagaries in power requirements, it is a good
option.
CHALLENGES
The biggest challenge in UK for the offshore wind sector is lack of investment and grid
connection problems.
Majority of the issues faced by the industry are cost cutting, political uncertainty,
infrastructure issues, unavailability of finances in the construction phase and the stability of
long term investments for the industry to grow. One of the major concerns is the commitment
of government to reduce the carbon emission levels. The government has set a target to
reduce the carbon level to a certain amount by 2020. Thus, it requires the government to put
efforts and reduce the carbon content in power sector which will be an aid in the offshore

wind industry.(Dawley, 2013)There is a benchmark figure set by the government for cost
reduction. The decision to set up a plant or an offshore wind industry requires the plan to be
backed up by an investor.
Then there are supply chain issues. Demand was all considered to be stable and dependent on
the market. There is not much capital support from investors outside. The government used to
share the risk related to the finances involved in construction.
Issues related to coordination between the offshore and onshore are seen and needs to be
worked out.
ISSUES RELATED TO ELECTRICITY GRID
Various cables are required for the connection of the plant to the shore, it require an
integrated electricity grid. This requires full transmission system and other ad hoc
connections which is full infrastructure dependent and hence, the government needs to work
on the establishment of robust infrastructure, including transmission cables etc. There are
funding issues to support the expansion of electricity grid.(Ederer, 2016)
Maritime spatial planning is one of the major issues. Many areas surrounding Europe seas are
crowded and hence there are increasing intervention by humans like fishing, sea farming
which makes the installation of plants delay in setting up.
RESEARCH & INNOVATION
No data is available regarding the offshore wind industry in UK. No manpower and resources
are available to make a research on the industry where the new plants can set up. How the
cost can be reduced. New innovated ways to generate power and control the emissions.
Other problems in the industry:
 Structure design for manufacturing processes
 Logistics and infrastructure
 Electrical infrastructure
 Wind turbines
 Maintenance and optimisation of the process
 External conditions like soil and other climatic and meteorological factors(Fitch-Roy,
2015)
EFFECT OF BREXIT ON OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY
Renewable energy scheme is recently changed in UK from green certificate to CFD. Since in
the recent referendum UK has voted to exit EU, their renewable target will differ once Brexit
happens. UK needs to work upon its own policies solely to take care of the renewable targets.
UK is at present the world leader in offshore wind industry with 5GW operational capacity
and is planning to have 10 GW by the end of 2020. One of the world’s largest wind farm is
about to establish in UK by DONG energy. Because of the Brexit referendum, new ministers
coming up and are having a different view on the investment of projects. For offshore wind
projects outside UK, Brexit will have an impact on debt and capital equity also which will in
turn affect investment for the projects.(Toke, 2011)

Source:http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/
POLICY OPTIONS
UK as a part of EU has all the policies submitted by the EU government. Some of the policy
options are
Adoption of EU renewable directive 2009: This directive fosters all parts of European Union
to adopt the renewable sources of energy. It was released in 2009 by the government and
hence give a push to the use of renewable sources of energy.
Long term climate and energy policy: This policy guarantees no side effects on the climate
and the environment. All industries will tracked of the carbon emission levels.
Policy for climate emission reduction: Emissions from all the industries should be reduced to
a bare minimum. The oil and gas industries have very high emission levels as compared to
the offshore wind industry. So, the use of renewable sources of energy is focussed on by the
government.
Investment remuneration scheme: This scheme was launched to foster the investments for
establishment of offshore wind energy plants. There are support schemes for investment
remuneration which will help offshore wind industry utilise all the economies of scale to cope
up with the power requirements of Europe in future.(“Refocus”, 2004)
ACTIONS TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT
Intelligent Energy Europe Programme: This programme helped in identifying the problems
related to the energy development in UK and Europe and a dedicated team offers solutions to
the same for implementation.

The government has implemented Electricity Market Reform, to help with the investments in
the wind offshore industry for long run.
With the help of CFD, contracts for difference and the renewable obligation, the government
is extending great support to low carbon generating agencies or firms and are giving them
incentives.
The wind industry will be sustainable if the government works in partnership with the supply
chain partners and other stakeholders to deliver the investment and full support to people
setting up the wind energy farms in UK.(“Refocus”, 2003)
AFFECTS OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT
POLICY MAKER VIEWS
The policy maker or a government minister will help implementing the new policy for the
offshore wind industry. Since the UK government has a target to have 10.5 Mw offshore
wind capacity, they have to work in full support with the people. Utilise the high wind
capacity shore areas and work in coordination and collaboration with specific budget
allocation for the offshore wind farms.
CEO OF ENVIRONMENTAL NGO
As the CEO of an environmental NGO, I will try my best to collaborate with those industries
which has very low carbon credits and give them incentives so that the other firms can help
achieve the renewable wind energy target by 2020. For promotional purposes, the
collaboration with other NGOs will help cover more and more audience to make them aware
about the benefits of conventional sources of energy.
JOURNALIST
Writing a piece on climate change, I would say that the focus of the government towards
expansion of wind capacity through offshore wind industry is a right move. Because in
Europe more and more dependency is on coal and gas which are non-renewable resources
and these will surely deplete and none will left for the future generation. The committee on
climate change will release the report on the carbon credits emission by various firms in UK
as well as the power production or the capacity in GW by already established offshore energy
wind farms. They have a department of energy and climate change in UK to advice on
specific actions to be taken if there is any emergency or decision to be taken with reference to
the weather and climate change in UK.
CEO OF A COMPANY
As per the policy decisions taken by the government to achieve the renewable target by 2020,
the CEO will have a meeting with the policy maker to understand how the decision will affect
the company. If the industry is pro emission then they need to discuss and take specific
measures to settle down the carbon credit level. If pollution level is on rise, new
establishments need to be made to help the government in implementation of the policy. If it
is possible to help investment from various sources or to find a solution regarding the
investment issues, the government can foresee a good intuition towards the policy
implementation. This will lead UK to have no dependency on the coal and gas for power
generation.

RECOMMENDED DECSIONS
Offshore wind industry in UK is one of the leaders in the world. Recently, due to various
circumstances the industry is facing various challenges but every problem is grown up to
have a solution.
Some of the recommendations to the government are:
• Develop fully oriented research and innovation programs to help the already
established wind farms produce more energy. If the government establish an
innovation department and research team, then there will be sole responsibility
allocation for the team to work and help the industry innovate and achieve the
renewable target by 2020.
• The government can have a look on the current budget allocation for renewable
sources of energy and what is their outcome. If the allocation is not efficient, the
budget can be redistributed effectively to support and assist established wind energy
farms. This will help foster the use of conventional sources of energy. So expansion
of current conventional wind energy sources and programs to retain them.
• There may be some policies for regional areas to help the national research programs
ongoing. Coordination should be there from the side of the government to help the
research and innovation department.
• There should be a good collaboration between the research, development and
demonstration programs to carry them out effectively.
• There should be promotional and awareness campaigns regarding the advantages of
using conventional sources of energy. If people are aware about the depletion of non-
renewable sources of energy in future, they will support the production of power
through wind. These awareness campaigns can be organised at regional, national and
community level.
• Support from government for the research to be carried out systematically on the
impact of offshore wind industry on the environment and people as well the economic
activities.
• If there are acceptance problems in various areas, the government can conduct a
survey to collect some information and feedback from the existing wind farms and
work on those to deal with the problems and sort them out at the local level.
• Common public and other industries which are responsible for emission should be
made aware about the carbon emissions and the harm it causes to the environment and
to the people. If every emitting industry will start taking care of the emissions, the
whole carbon credit will be earned and the renewable target for 2020 will be soon
met.

•
REFERENCES
Boyle, G. (2006). UK offshore wind potential. Refocus, 7(4), 26–29. doi:10.1016/s1471-
0846(06)70618-7
Boyle, G. (2007). Offshore wind: The potential to contribute a quarter of UK electricity by
2024. Wind Engineering, 31(2), 65–74. doi:10.1260/030952407781494511
Cassidy, P., &Cooksley, K. (2001). UK offshore wind. Refocus, 2(6), 44–45.
doi:10.1016/s1471-0846(01)80063-9
Dawley, S. (2013). Creating new paths? Offshore wind, policy activism, and peripheral
region development. Economic Geography, 90(1), 91–112. doi:10.1111/ecge.12028
Ederer, N. (2016). The price of rapid offshore wind expansion in the UK: Implications of a
profitability assessment. Renewable Energy, 92, 357–365. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2016.02.007
Fitch-Roy, O. (2015). An offshore wind union? Diversity and convergence in European
offshore wind governance. Climate Policy, 16(5), 586–605.
doi:10.1080/14693062.2015.1117958
Offshore wind can generate 9.4% of UK electricity by 2020 (2006). Refocus, 7(3), 12.
doi:10.1016/s1471-0846(06)70563-7
Toke, D. (2011). The UK offshore wind power programme: A sea-change in UK energy
policy? Energy Policy, 39(2), 526–534. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2010.08.043
UK approves over 7GW of offshore wind (2004). Refocus, 5(1), 12. doi:10.1016/s1471-
0846(04)00065-4
UK offshore wind expansion (2003). Refocus, 4(2), 13. doi:10.1016/s1471-0846(03)80018-5
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%20Challenges%20for%20the%20Offshore%20Wind%20Industry.pdf