Last year, Tim Pick was ready for a summer off work following his decision to retire after 27 years as an energy project lawyer. That was, until he was called into a meeting with Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK’s former secretary of state for business, about a new renewables job opportunity — co-chair of the Offshore Wind Acceleration Taskforce.

In May 2022, Mr Pick was appointed as the UK’s first ‘offshore wind champion’, assigned to help tackle the barriers facing the mass deployment of offshore wind farms. After a year of engaging with stakeholders across the industry, he published a report on April 5 summarising his findings about how to accelerate the roll out of offshore wind in the UK.

He sat down with fDi to explain why upgrading the grid and developing the port infrastructure is essential for the UK to achieve its ambitious goal of having 50 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

Q: What are your main recommendations for the UK’s offshore wind industry?

A: There are six detailed recommendations in my report. They refer to site selection and seabed leasing, innovation and skills, consenting, grid connections, contracts for difference (CfDs), ports and the supply chain. Another general point I make is about stewardship of the energy system. The typical mode of government in the UK is to set policy set frameworks and let the private sector do its job. We’re going through a period in the energy transition, where we’re transforming our system so rapidly, and so fundamentally, that there’s a need for a bit more hands-on approach and planning from the government. 

We set ourselves a target for a decarbonised power system by 2035. We need a critical path to achieve that. That’s really important when it comes to things like building out the grid. For some of this linear infrastructure, we will have to educate communities on the need for it. I think we need to evolve into a slightly different mode for the next 10 years.

Q: Why is the UK’s grid currently inadequate for the rollout of renewable energy?

A: We have a grid that was designed over the post-war period to the 1970s and 1980s. It was designed around the concept of some remote nuclear plants as well as gas- and coal-fired power plants on the edge of big cities. The wires are all set up for that system.

Now we’re generating power in the North Sea, Irish Sea and off the top of Scotland. But electricity demand has not shifted in terms of geography — there is still massive demand in the southeast of England. So we’re moving the location of generation, but the demand is still in the same place.

We have managed to connect 13.8GW of offshore wind generation capacity to the grid without a big overhaul of the system. The UK has another 6.4GW currently under construction with grid connections, and another 7.6GW that have received planning consent and been awarded a CfD. We’ve done well, but are really pushing the limits of that system, especially as we move offshore wind into Scotland. There isn’t north-south transmission. We need to get on top of the grid to make these offshore wind plans a reality.

Q: Are there other recommendations you would highlight as particularly important?

A: Ports are one of the key enablers for offshore wind deployment and the supply chain. We don’t seem to have the really big port infrastructure that you need for this activity. Many UK ports have benefitted from work associated with offshore wind developments in the North Sea and Irish Sea. But we’re still short of the big marshalling and assembly ports.

Historically a lot of that work has been done out of European ports for the UK ports. My concern is that everybody wants offshore wind in Europe at a large scale. Ports are already getting very busy. This is evident from an agreement signed between Europe’s six largest wind ports, including Esbjerg in Denmark, to work together due to worries about port capacity. 

The Floating Wind Offshore Wind Task Force recently recommended that £4bn needs to be invested to transform up to 11 ports around the UK. One of my key recommendations is for the government to provide the opportunity for these long-term infrastructure projects. Having sufficient port infrastructure in place will enable that wind supply chain development. 

Q: Developers argue that CfDs, which have been used to incentivise green investment, need to be reformed. Can you explain what needs to be done?

A: CfDs have done an excellent job of pushing innovation and bringing down the price of electricity generated by offshore wind farms. However, there are several features of that auction that are sub-optimal for other policy outcomes. If you would rather developers collaborate, the intense competition to win CfDs actually pushes them apart. At the moment, we don’t release the competitive tension until the very last minute. It is quite hard to corral people to collaborate on improving the enabling infrastructure for offshore wind if they are aggressively competing for CfDs.

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: Offshore wind has gone from being a niche activity to something at the core of our electricity system in a very short period of time. We should really ask ourselves what success looks like for offshore wind in the next 10 years. We of course need big deployment and for costs to come down. But if we can connect communities with this industry, that would be a mark of success.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.