Five MPs from across Norfolk and Suffolk are calling for a major reform of the offshore wind connection system. On Wednesday, the Rt Hon. Therese Coffey MP, George Freeman MP, Jerome Mayhew MP, Duncan Baker MP and James Cartlidge MP, issued a joint response to the National Grid ESO consultation on Offshore Coordination.
- Their response called for an integrated wind farm connection system at sea with reduced onshore infrastructure.
- The MPs highlighted that the current system, if left unchecked, would cause detriment to the East Anglian coastline and countryside.
- Their response states that a coordinated response would save £6bn for consumers, halve the amount of associated infrastructure and enable the sector to grow more sustainably without “being bogged down in perpetual planning controversies”.
- In order to achieve this integrated approach the MPs have called for fundamental reform of the way offshore wind is regulated, removing conflicts of interest inherent to the current set up.
- Above all, the MPs are pressing for legislation at the earliest opportunity to bring about this regulatory change, so that coordinated offshore wind can be delivered in practice, and as soon as possible.
Regulators and industry figures alike now recognise that legislation needs to change to allow the offshore wind industry to deliver the huge expansion of green, renewable, electricity that the country needs without being forced to build wasteful and damaging on-shore connections. The sooner the rules change the better for everyone. It is not just future projects that can be improved: this new, better, approach should also be applied to as many of the existing windfarm projects as possible.
- Jerome Mayhew, MP for Broadland
Further information and the consultation documents can be found here: https://www.nationalgrideso.com/future-energy/projects/offshore-coordination-project.
