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The onward trajectory for offshore wind expansion has been spelled out by one of the Humber’s renewables champions.

Emma Toulson, Orsted’s lead stakeholder advisor, described the “big, big growth to come” as the installation targets are notched up as the sector plays a vital role in the country's Net Zero ambition.

Hosting a dedicated session on wind power at the Energy and Clean Growth in the Northern Powerhouse conference, Miss Toulson told of the reasoning behind the sector deal she contributed to, and how it will play out.

Highlighting the “seven million homes already powered by offshore wind; 11,000 people employed; high public support; large amounts of investment and a fifth of all infrastructure spend in this country,” she said: “It took a little bit of time but on March 7 the Offshore Wind Sector Deal was launched, the culmination of two years of negotiations, and this has set the scene for the future growth of this industry.

“We want at least 30GW by 2030, and then 50GW by 2050, though I’ve heard that revised much higher. To make 30GW happen we need more people in this industry. Today our export value is half a billion pounds, we can really capitalise on that leading position as this industry goes global.”

 

Getting to 30GW represents a 200 per cent increase on this year’s installed capacity, while 75GW to a potential 175GW is then a further 150 per cent or 480 per cent from there.

At 11GW now, Miss Toulson said there was to be a further 2.85GW in the short term, then highlighted Round Four and the 7GW forecast there as known pipelines.

 “Much of that is centred around the North,” she said. “The message here is big, big growth to come from our indigenous market.”