Whilst Auction Round (AR) 6 has clearly been more successful than AR5 for Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW), the Celtic Sea was again unsuccessful in today’s announcement. In fact, there was only one winner out of a possible four eligible projects, all spread across the UK.
So much work and investment has got to the point where there was a Celtic Sea project able to bid into the Contracts for Difference (CfD), it is hugely disappointing that only one project is able to progress following today’s announcement, and that is in Scotland. If we are to ever optimise our wind energy production, the Celtic Sea has to be a part of it, given the difference in weather systems that exist across the nation.
The stepping stone strategy for FLOW in the Celtic Sea has been widely acknowledged as the right one across the industry. The Crown Estate have significant ambitions for the region and we need the new Government to find a way for the Celtic Sea to secure another CfD to build on the work going on at Twin Hub in Cornwall, to really drive this industry forward regionally, as well as nationally. Whilst the CfD scheme has been hugely successful in many ways, it is too regionally competitive for a fledgling industry like FLOW. Fixed offshore wind did not have to compete in this way at the start of its journey, and the Celtic Sea as a whole new region for offshore wind, is never going to be able to compete with the North Sea on price.
Forcing competition between disparate regions, in a fledgling industry, is not the way to build a national success story.
Selaine Saxby, former Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Celtic Sea
Photo from the APPG Celtic Sea Meeting on the 28th February 2024
