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Is Wales about to lead the world in wind
Green Industries Wales Inform
Offshore and Onshore Wind continue to play a major role in Welsh renewable electricity,
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accounting for 29% and 38% of renewable generation respectively. Behind the positive statistics lies an impressive and ever-increasing technical ingenuity offshore - and something of a statutory tipping point onshore, with the publishing of the National Development Framework, 'Future Wales: The National Plan 2040', in spring 2021.
Offshore Wind is already working for Wales
When the 576MW Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm was commissioned in the summer of 2015, just off the coast of North Wales, it became Wales’ largest wind farm - and the fifth largest operating offshore wind farm in the world. The output of 1,950 GWh per year is capable of powering around 400,000 homes - or 30% of the homes in Wales - as well as preventing the release of approximately 1.7Mt of carbon dioxide every year.
The potential extension of the Gwynt y Môr site could double this alreadyimpressive energy generation, taking the site up to over 1GW. With the Crown Estate currently considering opportunities for the next leasing round for offshore wind in the UK - and with further potential sites for Wales still under consideration for Leasing Round 4 - we are being given a tantalising glimpse of the potential future for wind power in Wales. a combined capacity of 150MW prior to the 160-turbine Gywnt y Môr being developed in the second leasing round and commissioned on June 18th in 2015. So with an existing critical mass already ‘here’, what does the future hold for this proven renewable energy in Wales?
Although Wales is far from unique in enjoying the potential of offshore wind - this technology has been a success story across the UK and the reduction in price has accelerated as the technology has matured - many experts believe that Wales has some of the strongest prospects for offshore wind in Europe, with significant potential to deploy both fixed and floating offshore wind infrastructure.
Currently, the majority of the UK’s offshore wind farms are located in the North Sea and unlocking sites off the Welsh coast will be essential to ensure security of supply by taking advantage of the different weather patterns around the UK coast.
There are, in fact, already three major offshore wind projects in Wales, all located off the North Wales coast in Liverpool Bay - courtesy of The Crown Estate’s first leasing round, which led to the development of the North Hoyle and Rhyl Flats projects in 2003 and 2009 respectively, creating The fourth round of seabed leasing is underway and due to conclude by spring 2022, with the opportunity for an additional 7GW of new projects in English and Welsh waters, including a development area focusing on the North Wales region. The Crown Estate has already granted seabed rights for a 576MW extension to the Gywnt y Môr wind farm - named Awel y Môr and due to be operational in 2030 - and also awarded the rights for a 96MW floating wind demonstration project 45km off the south Pembrokeshire Coast, to Blue Gem Wind Ltd.
This will be the first floating wind farm in Welsh waters and, with construction expected to conclude by 2027, it could well be the first in a series of projects in the Celtic Sea aimed at “maximising local supply chain content”.
The key challenge to unlock the potential of Welsh offshore wind sites is ensuring that the associated infrastructure and grid availability is capable of supporting this technology - and a suitable seabed leasing process is in place. Ports will play a significant role in capturing supply chain benefits and investment in Welsh ports will maximise the potential scale of floating wind in the Celtic Sea. Beyond that, Wave and Tidal Stream technologies are being tested in Wales, with the long term aspiration that our two demonstration zones - the West Anglesey Demonstration Zone and the South Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone - will enable developers to test both prototype and proven technologies.
A pan-Wales push in Onshore Wind
With 748 projects deploying 1.25GW across seven authorities, Welsh onshore wind capacity continues to increase - from large-scale projects such as the 27-turbine 96MW
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Clocaenog Forest Wind Farm situated on the Welsh Government Woodland Estate (on the border of Denbighshire and Conwy) and the 16-turbine 32.8MW Mynydd Y Gwair Wind Farm in Swansea (expected to produce enough renewable electricity to power the equivalent of 22,600 Welsh homes), right through to smaller community-owned projects such as the CAREWT1 development in Pembrokeshire and the Ffrwd Farm turbine in Ceredigion.
Neath Port Talbot has the highest capacity of onshore wind at the moment, with a total of 230MW (nearly two thirds of this capacity is from the Pen y Cymoedd wind farm, located on the border of Neath Port Talbot and Rhondda Cynon Taf) but many other parts of Wales now enjoy the supportive planning environment as well as strong wind resources to realise significant onshore wind development. The biggest barrier to date has been the geographical disparity between developable areas and suitable network infrastructure. Some projects have historically bid under the Contracts for Difference auctions - and there is increasing developer confidence about the feasibility of subsidy-free projects - but up until now the future of onshore wind has been shaped by Welsh Government.
Encouragingly, the long-awaited National Development Framework - Future Wales: The National Plan 2040 - was published in spring 2021; and is widely viewed to be in favour of large-scale wind energy developments, subject to meeting the policy requirements for protecting “visual amenity, ecological sites, heritage assets, surrounding amenity (noise, shadow, flicker, etc), defence interests or transport.”
This first national spatial plan for Wales has created a new ‘Pre-Assessed Area’ covering almost 281,000 hectares (compared to just under 77,000Ha under the previous guidelines) - a policy development that is broadly supportive of wind technology, ‘tipping the balance’ of decision-making towards wind energy even outside the Pre-Assessed Area.
With the pilots, projects, programmes - and policy - in place, Wind in Wales looks to be an increasingly powerful force for renewable energy right across our country.
