UK Energy Upgrade Plans – Offshore Wind

In recent months, there hasn’t been much positive news concerning the UK and energy. However, the National Grid has set out plans to upgrade the UK’s electricity network, and plan to invest around £54bn to do so, by rapidly enhancing the capacity of offshore winds.

This would be the Grid’s biggest investment since the 1960s and will focus on quickly expanding their offshore wind energy capacity.

Why offshore winds? Well offshore winds became the cheapest form of renewable energy and in 2020, it accounted for just under a quarter of total electricity generated within the United Kingdom.

About the Plan

The UK government plans for 50 gigawatts of offshore wind, and to be completely operational, by 2030, which is less than 8 years away. The implications that this plan has can be enormous, at full output, this offshore winds project would meet just under two-thirds of current PEAK electricity demands.

Not only will the UK have generated much more electricity, but also sustainable and renewable energy at that.

Currently, offshore wind farms have their own individual connections to onshore grids, therefore, a big part of this project is not only to expand but to streamline the connections from offshore to onshore. Additionally, it is crucial to mitigate as much disruption and impact on local communities.

Benefits

  1. National Grid ESO have estimated that this project would save consumers £5.5bn in costs by 2030 by increasing network capacity.
  2. Currently with every consumer bill, £20 is given to the National Grid under the name of an “electricity transmission charge”. This payment already provided will be used to upgrade the network.
  3. Over half of the UKs energy would be sustainably generated.
  4. Lead to cheaper energy bills.
  5. Giant leap towards a greener future.

Renewable Energy

It is now more important than ever to start taking steps towards a more sustainable energy-consuming lifestyle. With energy bills rising at higher levels than ever and global warming consistently showing negative signs, the time to take action is now.

Luckily, homeowners have many available outlets and services to become more sustainable, to conserve more energy and to reduce energy waste. All of this also equates to, paying less energy bills.

Residential services such as:

All contribute to helping homeowners reduce the amount of energy wasted, which, in turn, reduces energy bills.