UK's Labour talks up floating wind in energy security pledge

Leader of the UK’s opposition Labour Party Keir Starmer will pledge to prioritise floating wind today (Monday) as part of plans to bolster the nation’s energy security.

With Labour enjoying a towering lead in opinion polls, and the clock ticking on an election that will be held by January at the latest, the party's statements on energy policy are being watched closely.

In a visit to a port in Wales today, Starmer will outline plans to support the development of floating in a speech where he will call for Britain to “take back control” of its energy security, according to the BBC.

Britain’s Conservative government has also backed floating wind by creating a separate funding pot in the next big offshore wind tender, and supporting port development for the industry, but has softened some of its net zero targets and opted to continue with licensing round for the oil and gas industry, citing energy security needs.

It is not clear yet how much detail Starmer will provide on Labour’s plans for floating wind.

Publicly-owned

One area under scrutiny is the UK’s strong leaning toward private sector led projects, which stands in contrast to some of the more government-led and EU-backed projects emerging in Europe, such as the Port la Nouvelle development in France.

Starmer is expected to outline a more active role in this sense for the publicly-owned company that Labour has pledged to create, called Great British Energy, with a budget of £8.3bn ($10.5bn).

Floating wind will be chosen for a first major investment pledge for the new entity, although Labour has stressed that the investment model will remain one of public-private partnership.

The port of Milford Haven, is one of the candidates to serve as hub for developing offshore wind development in the Celtic Sea.

The UK is currently promoting a 4.5GW floating offshore wind auction for the Offshore Wind Leasing Round 5, offering capacity off the coast of Wales and the southwest of England.

The Crown Estate, the UK's seabed landlord, describes the tender as the next chapter of the country's "green growth revolution."

Floating makes up 5GW of the UK's overall ambition to have 50GW of wind in the water by 2030, up from less than 15GW now.

The Labour Party faced criticism from climate campaigners in February when it shelved plans to spend £28bn a year on green projects, due to budget constraints.

The announced push on floating wind was welcomed by pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade, but founder Sam Richards said the scale of plans merely underlined the urgency of demands for Britain to reform its planning system in order to get clean energy projects built.

"It’s ridiculous that it can take up to 13 years to build an offshore wind farm despite construction of the actual turbines only taking 2 years," he said.

“There is simply no way Britain can enjoy a clean energy grid by 2030, and deliver lower energy bills for millions of people up and down the country, if red-tape and bureaucracy hold back getting spades in the ground.”

In another reaction to the Labour policy statement, green energy lobby group RenewableUK said more generous funding is needed urgently to unlock investment in existing floating wind projects such as the Erebus wind farm, off the coast of Pembrokeshire in Wales

The group pointed to the AR6 allocation round expected in the second quarter of 2024, and said the £1bn budget set out for that auction is too low.

"We're calling on Government to revise this at the earliest opportunity,” the lobby group said.

In changes announced in November 2023, the UK government raised the maximum strike price by 66% for offshore wind projects, from £44/MWh to £73/MWh, and by 52% for floating offshore wind projects, from £116/MWh to £176/MWh ahead of AR6.