The offshore wind industry is ready to sign its industrial strategy sector deal with the government, Orsted’s UK country manager has revealed.
Benj Sykes, vice president, UK country manager at the Danish company, told the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) select committee yesterday (17 October) that the government has indicated that it is ready to agree the deal, which he hinted could emerge during next month’s Offshore Wind Week.
Giving evidence to the committee’s inquiry into the sector deal, he said: “We are confident that we are ready to agree a deal and launch it.”
The sector deal, the draft of which includes a commitment to double the rate of offshore wind deployment by 2030, is one of a number being worked up as part of the government’s broader industrial strategy.
Emma Pinchbeck, executive director of Renewable UK, urged the government not to get rid of the contracts for difference (CfDs) as part of its wider five-yearly review of the electricity market reform.
She said: “Conversations are going on about the future of the CfD and the capacity market: we should be cautious before jettisoning it.”
The CfD auction process has been “remarkably successful”, Pinchbeck said: “This is a global market so having a timetable helps international industry to prioritise the UK.”
She urged the government to “double down” on the UK’s success in driving down offshore wind costs by investing in other early stage technologies like wave and tidal.
Sykes, who is also co-chair of the Offshore Wind Council, rejected the suggestion by MPs on the committee that the booming offshore wind sector deserves less support from the industrial strategy than more struggling counterparts.
He said the speeding up the rollout of windfarms would deliver greater efficiency scale benefits and job opportunities.
And the sector deal would enable wind developers to collaborate on issues of pan-industry benefit, which they would otherwise have little incentive to do due to the increasingly competitive nature of the industry.