Shipping body raises concerns about proliferation of offshore windfarms

With the UK government poised to greenlight millions of pounds’ worth of new offshore wind developments, the UK Chamber of Shipping has warned that coordination and forward planning is essential to ensure new windfarms do not endanger vessels, lives or the environment.

As highlighted here and here, the UK government has announced a new round of contracts for difference (CFDs) for May 2019, and intends to run subsequent auctions every two years after that, together worth over half a billion pounds.

At the same time, The Crown Estate has received eight applications to extend existing windfarms, which could add a combined 8 GW of additional capacity for power generation. Separately, a new round of seabed leasing for offshore wind developments is likely to be marketed next year.

These developments could potentially see 1-2 GW of new offshore wind capacity (which the Chamber of Shipping equates to between 60 and 140 turbines) every year during the 2020s.

The Chamber of Shipping said it fully supports offshore wind as a means to decarbonise the UK’s energy mix, as has been outlined in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s ‘Clean Growth Strategy’ – but says that caution is needed and said its paramount concerns are the preservation of navigational safety for shipping and mariners and minimising the additional emissions and fuel costs caused by vessels deviating around windfarms.