Octopus Energy expects new onshore wind projects following the ban lift
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The CEO of Britain’s Octopus Energy said in an interview with Reuters that the company expects to announce new onshore wind projects “fairly soon” after the incoming Labor government ended an effective ban on new wind farms in England.
The Labor government aims to decarbonize the country’s electricity system by 2030 and has plans to help unlock infrastructure projects. It also seeks to increase the country’s renewable power capacity.
Greg Jackson, Octopus Energy CEO, said, “We’ve got thousands of communities contacting us about onshore wind. I expect we will be able to announce some projects in areas where people want them fairly soon.”
Jackson said the new government must also continue reforms of the country’s energy markets. It should pursue the former Conservative government’s proposal to use a location-based method to determine how much consumers should pay for electricity.
That would effectively mean consumers living close to generating sites paying less for their power, incentivizing local communities to support new developments.
Jackson added, “The critical steps now are the market reforms that enable you to see regional pricing that really allows you to invest in the right projects in the right places. Reforming wholesale markets to a more locational basis will cut the costs in every region.”
European countries, including Italy, Sweden and Norway, have already adopted zonal electricity planning.
Octopus has a program to help match communities that want new wind projects with landowners happy to host turbines. As a result, the communities can get their electricity up to 50% cheaper.
Read more: UK’s Octopus Energy to invest $2 billion in US renewables by 2030
“If electricity is consumed close to where it is being generated, it should reflect those lower costs and provide cheap electricity to the communities that host turbines,” Jackson said.
UK Energy Trends (from January to March 2024), published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, revealed that renewable electricity generation reached a near-record share of 50.9% of total generation in the first quarter of 2024.
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