Tom Delay, Chief Executive, the Carbon Trust - responding to the offshore wind - Round 3 - announcement today, said:
"To date the UK has just dipped its toe in the water when it comes to developing offshore wind but today's announcement makes the UK the number one market for offshore wind development. It has fired the starting gun on what should be the low carbon economic opportunity of the decade.
“Round 3 offers the UK a fantastic opportunity to build a new low carbon industry that should attract significant inward investment to create some 70,000 new jobs over the next ten years. But the road ahead will not be easy. The hard work now begins. The engineering challenge is huge and will require us to deploy offshore turbines at unprecedented rates in hostile waters to ensure we meet our renewable energy and carbon reduction targets.
“We also have an economic challenge to build Round 3 in the most cost effective way possible to minimise the cost to the consumer. This means we must focus our R&D efforts on key areas where costs can be stripped out of the projected £75bn construction bill. We estimate that it is possible, through good siting and technological advances, to reduce the cost of deployment for Round 3 by as much as 40% over the coming decade."
Notes to editors
For more information or an interview please call the Carbon Trust press office on 0207 544 3100.
The Carbon Trust
- The Carbon Trust is an independent company set up in 2001 by Government in response to the threat of climate change, to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy by working with organisations to reduce carbon emissions and develop commercial low carbon technologies.
- We cut carbon emissions now by giving business and the public sector expert advice, finance and certification to help them reduce their carbon footprint and to stimulate demand for low carbon products and services. Through our work, we’ve already helped save over 23 million tonnes of carbon, delivering costs savings of around £1.4 billion. We aim to help our customers cut a further 17MtCO2 and save another £1 billion in the next three years.
- We cut future carbon emissions by developing new low carbon technologies. We are helping the UK become a global hub for low carbon innovation. We do this through funding and managing projects, investing and collaborating on low carbon technologies and by identifying market barriers and practical ways to overcome them. Our work on commercialising new technologies will deliver savings of up to 23 million tonnes of carbon a year by 2050.
Some facts and figures on offshore from Carbon Trust
Costs:
- We estimate the 29GW of capacity to be installed in the next 10 years will cost £75bn (£2.6m/MW) which reflects a degree of learning over the period.
Source: CT report ‘Offshore Wind: Big Challenge, Big Opportunity’
Jobs:
- We estimate 70,000 jobs in OSW by 2020, made up of 50,000 direct jobs, and 20,000 secondary jobs (eg legal services, finance).
- We estimate 220,000 jobs in OSW by 2050 – 135,000 direct and 85,000 secondary jobs.
Source: Carbon Trust report ‘Focus for Success’
Economic Benefit: Source Focus on Success
- Revenues of £19bn p.a. by 2050
- Net Economic Benefit to UK ranges from -£1bn to +£65bn by 2050, depending on the degree of inward investment achieved
Carbon Benefit:
- We estimate 35MtCO2 abated by OSW by 2020, and 47MtCO2 abated by OSW by 2050
Source: Carbon Trust report ‘Focus for Success’