Greenpeace slams 'pitiful' funding for offshore wind

In response to Claire Perry’s announcement* in the Commons that the next CfD auction for offshore wind will only be allocated £60m from the £557m allocated for the next three auctions, Greenpeace UK’s Head of Energy, Kate Blagojevic, said –

“This is a genuinely bewildering move by the government that misses the opportunity to drive down offshore wind costs as fast as possible. They promised over half a billion pounds in investment, that was widely expected to be divvied up and made available in sizeable chunks over the next few years. But this first chunk is a pitiful sum that could end up limiting UK export potential and jeopardising our climate goals. If protecting the climate or boosting a rare UK industrial success story is the government's priority, then they need to allocate the money that has been promised to accelerate development, bring down costs and cut emissions as quickly as possible. Perhaps the only way the government can make nuclear power remotely competitive is to deliberately sabotage offshore wind. This is an energy policy that flies in the face of climate science and public concern to reduce carbon emissions rapidly in the next few decades.”  

ENDS

Notes

* https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-11-20/debates/D6C7AA68-F501-483B-A714-6CDF38DC42F9/TopicalQuestions