Consultation outcome - Offshore Transmission Network
Review: proposals for an enduring regime and multi-purpose
interconnectors
From:
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Download the full outcome
Offshore Transmission
Network Review: multi-purpose interconnectors - government
response
PDF, 308
KB, 12 pages
Detail of outcome
The Energy White Paper included a target of increasing offshore
wind capacity to 40 GW by 2030, to accelerate the transition to
Net Zero. That target was increased to 50 GW by 2030 in the
Energy Security Strategy. As the scale of development increases,
a different approach to offshore wind is needed in order to limit
the impact on coastal communities and the environment.
The Offshore Transmission Network Review (OTNR) was
established to deliver a more coordinated approach to offshore
wind development, taking into account environmental, social and
economic costs. The OTNR is
considering an Enduring Regime that takes a more strategic
approach to windfarm development, including how best to
facilitate multi-purpose interconnectors (MPIs), assets that combine
interconnection with direct connections to offshore wind farms.
This consultation forms part of the OTNR and
invited views on:
- the need for upfront strategic planning of offshore wind
generation
- the need for holistic network design and the fundamental
design choices
- the possible delivery models
- the timing of transmission delivery
- whether any adjustment may be required to the legal framework
governing MPIs
We are publishing 2 separate government responses to this
consultation:
- the first (published 25 April 2022) is to
the MPI section
- the second will address the Enduring Regime section and will
be published later in 2022
The Department has determined that aspects of the existing
licensing and legal framework are unlikely to be suitable for an
enduring solution for MPIs and will
therefore require modification. To enable legal and regulatory
clarity for the enduring regime, we are considering how to
introduce a new licensable activity into the Electricity Act 1989
for the operation of an MPI and whether an
associated definition of an MPI asset is
necessary. We will introduce legislation when Parliamentary time
allows.
The Department supports:
- the amendments made by Ofgem to the licence conditions for
both the interconnector-led and OFTO-led approaches outlined
in their consultation
- Ofgem’s intention to enable early
opportunities MPIs under a pilot
cap and floor scheme
Detail of feedback received
We received 53 responses, of which 21 addressed the questions
on MPIs.
Responses came from:
- developers
- transmission owners
- system operators
- other government departments
- non-governmental organisations
Original consultation
Summary
We're seeking views on a new enduring regime for windfarm
development and offshore transmission.
This consultation ran from
10am on 28 September 2021 to 11:45pm on 23 November
2021
Consultation description
The current offshore transmission regime takes a developer-led
approach to designing and delivering offshore transmission, which
has resulted in individual connections for each windfarm, and
dates from when offshore wind was a nascent sector.
With rapidly increasing scale of deployment the cumulative impact
of individual transmission links on the environment and local
communities is no longer fit for purpose and could pose a major
barrier to future deployment.
We are consulting on proposals to develop a new enduring regime
that takes a more strategic approach to windfarm development and
considers the offshore transmission system holistically with the
onshore network to deliver a more coordinated approach and reduce
the cumulative impacts of transmission. The consultation sets
out:
- a range of possible approaches for an enduring regime,
ranging from incremental change to a completely new regime
- a provisional recommendation that a more strategic approach
is required in any future regime to achieve the Review’s
objectives
- possible models for an enduring regime and their high-level
assessment against agreed criteria
We are not seeking to lock in a specific model at the moment, but
will use your feedback to inform further detailed assessment of
individual options. We will then consult again on the detail
later in 2021.
The consultation is open to anyone to respond, but will be of
particular interest to:
- offshore and floating wind developers
- oil and gas, and hydrogen sectors
- interconnector developers
- offshore wind technology providers
- offshore transmission operators (OFTOs), transmission
operators (TOs), system operator (SO)
- environmental and community groups
- individual stakeholders from regions particularly affected by
offshore wind deployment such as East Anglia, devolved
administrations
Read the BEIS consultation
privacy notice.
Please don’t send responses by post to the department at the
moment as we may not be able to access them.
Documents
Offshore Transmission
Network Review: enduring regime and multi-purpose
interconnectors
PDF, 726
KB, 53 pages
Impact
assessment
PDF, 1010
KB, 22 pages
