A report published today (11 February) by RenewableUK has made several key recommendations to extend the lifespan of offshore wind farms.
The first offshore wind farms, which came online in 2000, are entering the last stages of their lifespan. RenewableUK has suggested that the government develop policies for extending the lifespan of projects and ensuring that the best practices for decommissioning are established.
The report notes that around 900MW of wind energy generation capacity per year is at risk of being decommissioned during the 2030s, increasing to as much as 2.4GW per year in the 2040s, posing a major threat to the clean energy transition unless the lifetime of assets is extended. RenewableUK calls the possibility of lifetime extensions for offshore wind assets “a unique opportunity to leverage existing infrastructure towards achieving clean power and energy security”.
The report’s co-author, RenewableUK policy manager Nick Hibberd, said: “We have a great opportunity to strengthen the UK’s energy security by leveraging existing offshore wind infrastructure – either by extending the lifespan of existing projects or by repowering sites with modern state-of-the-art models. Instead of losing offshore wind capacity, we could potentially increase it.
“With greater policy clarity on lifetime extension and repowering, we can ensure that the government achieves its climate targets by maximising our offshore wind capacity, which is the central pillar of our future clean energy system”.
Benefits and challenges of lifetime extension
The report notes that there are a number of benefits to extending the lifespan of existing offshore wind assets. As well as the aforementioned boost to energy security, extending the lifespan over a longer period of time maximises the use of extracted resources which lowers the environmental impact of a project, allows more time for a potential new project to be planned and permitted on the same site in a process known as repowering, and supports local jobs both on and offshore.
However, several “significant barriers” to lifetime extension remain. Of these, some of the most crucial are a lack of clarity within permitting and government processes for projects seeking lifetime extensions, as well as a lack of flexibility within such processes. As such, RenewableUK is urging the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to provide more clarity to offshore wind developers to ensure that those wishing to take advantage of the benefits of lifetime extensions for offshore wind projects are able to do so under a clear policy framework. To this, Friederike Andres, RenewableUK’s policy manager and the report’s co-author, said:
“Policy attention is rightly focussing on building new offshore wind farms. However, with originally anticipated average lifespans of twenty to twenty-five years, the UK’s earliest offshore wind farms are currently entering their final lifespan stage. Clear direction and leadership are needed from governments and regulators in developing the best possible decommissioning programme for offshore wind farms, taking full account of the complex technical, commercial and environmental factors involved.”
