Minister to outline major boost for wind power

MORE than half a billion pounds worth of financial support will be up for auction every two years for the next decade under Government energy plans which could mean that almost a third of Britain’s power is generated by offshore wind turbines by 2030.

Energy minister Claire Perry is expected to announce today that after a 10-year period of progress in the offshore wind industry the Government is ready to offer another decade of certainty to developers.

Ministers will hold contract auctions every two years from next May through to the 2020s to award the £557m they have set aside to support the lowest cost offshore wind projects.

“Depending on the auction prices, this could see 1-2GW of new offshore wind [energy] every year in the 2020s – powering millions more homes a year,” she was expected to say.

Energy developers are already creating a series of wind and battery projects to harness the falling cost of wind generation.

The announcement comes as Norway’s state-backed oil giant prepares to start using batteries to trade electricity alongside oil and gas, in the latest sign of the renewable revolution sweeping the energy market.

Following Statoil’s rebrand as Equinor earlier this year, a dedicated team has been created at its London headquarters to trade stored renewable power from its growing estate of offshore wind power projects.

Stephen Bull, a senior executive at Equinor, said the small battery trading desk has begun work on building a bespoke trading system in the same London offices where it has traded its vast oil and gas reserves since 1983.

The UK relies on Norway for almost 40pc of its gas, but to keep pace with the global move towards clean energy Equinor has invested in battery-linked wind power too.

Energy storage helps to smooth the peaks and troughs in supply caused by the weather since winds are not constant.

Equinor is aiming to build a wholesale trading capability as the cost of batteries tumbles and their role in the grid increases along with that of renewable power generation. By the autumn it expects to begin trials of the complicated algorithms which could unlock the power market’s biggest change since renewables became a major force.