New plan to link 4.5GW of Celtic Sea floating wind to UK grid
National Grid ESO has taken ‘new approach’ by setting out transmission plan ahead of Celtic Sea floating wind auction, ‘ringfencing’ grid capacity in advance
A new plan has been unveiled to link up to 4.5GW of future Celtic Sea floating offshore wind power to the UK grid, which the country’s transmission system operator says will hand more certainty to wind developers.
Three connections have been proposed to link the planned Celtic Sea floating wind capacity, National Grid ESO announced today.
Two of those together carrying up to 3GW of capacity would connect to South Wales, while another 1.5GW link would come onshore in England’s southwest.
Offshore wind is “vital” to the new Labour government’s goal of achieving a net zero electricity grid, said ESO’s director of strategic energy planning and chief engineer, Julian Leslie.
It is he said therefore a “really positive development that this is the first time an offshore wind leasing round will have been launched with a recommended high-level network design in place.”
The Celtic Sea plan is unique to other network design exercises previously undertaken by the ESO, said the operator, as developers have yet to bid in the Celtic Sea auction, in which three areas of seabed are up for grabs.
“This new approach to the sequencing will allow developers to make a more informed bid based on the network recommendations, reducing risk,” said ESO.
It also allows ESO to take a “new approach” to the connections queue for the leasing round capacity by “effectively ringfencing the 4.5GW in advance.”
That means ESO can “proceed efficiently with the connection contract process” when the seabed lease agreements are entered into by The Crown Estate.
National Grid is currently carrying out the 'Great Grid Upgrade,' which it describes as the largest overhaul of the electricity grid in “generations” to help enable the UK’s energy transition.
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