One of the largest wind farms in the UK risks missing its 2030 target to start generating power, due to extended waiting times for grid connections and shortages in the supply chain for turbines and electrical components.
The Morven wind farm, developed by BP and set to be located 38 miles from Aberdeen, has a planned capacity of 2.9 gigawatts and is expected to supply enough energy to power three million homes across Britain.
However, there are concerns it may not achieve its goal of contributing to the UK’s energy system by the end of the decade, amid delays in securing grid connections and obtaining the parts needed.
Morven is part of a trio of wind farms in the UK, all developed by BP in collaboration with Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (EnBW), a German energy firm. The other two, Mona and Morgan, are located in the Irish Sea and have successfully obtained grid connections.
Earlier this year, the bidding process for new offshore wind projects was paused by Murray Auchincloss, who assumed the role of BP’s permanent CEO in January, aiming to streamline operations and reduce costs.
Consequently, efforts have shifted towards enhancing existing projects in the UK and Germany. BP has sold its ten onshore wind farms in the US and exited the market.
The UK’s wind and solar projects have encountered numerous delays in securing grid connections, a challenge that complicates Labour’s ambitions to increase onshore wind by twofold, solar power by threefold, and offshore wind capacity by fourfold by 2030, in the effort to decarbonise the electricity sector.
These delays are attributed not only to the large volume of green energy projects seeking grid access but also to an inefficient system that has led to wait times of up to 15 years for projects to secure connections.
At the end of last year, the system operator responsible for maintaining the UK’s electricity supply announced plans to remove “zombie projects” — those that are speculative or in a state of stagnation — from the grid access queue.
Morven was among the 20 projects awarded the opportunity to develop a combined 28 gigawatts of offshore wind power along Scotland’s coast in 2022. It is anticipated that if all the projects awarded under the ScotWind auction are completed, they will generate enough renewable energy to power over 17 million homes.
A spokesman for the Energy Networks Association, the energy industry body, said: “Networks are fully behind the UK government’s clean power mission and are on track to support connecting the first phase of ScotWind in line with developers’ expectations. This is of course subject to timely consenting decisions from the relevant planning authorities in Scotland and England.”
