Ambitious plans after 25 years of UK offshore wind

First published in The Herald.

In December 2000 the UK’s first offshore wind farm began exporting power to the grid. Since then, another c.18GW of offshore wind has been energised and the UK Government has ambitions to deliver a fourfold increase over the next decade.

Grid access

Most offshore wind developers would say that grid access is one of, if not the single greatest challenge they face.

The ‘queue’ of projects (offshore wind and others) waiting to connect to the grid has grown dramatically in recent years, reaching four times the capacity needed to meet the UK Government’s 2030 clean energy targets. And because the queue was ordered according to the date connection agreements were signed – a ‘first come, first served’ approach – some have had to wait over a decade for the network reinforcements required for their connection to be completed.

Published in December 2024, the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, or CP2030, is the UK Government’s strategy for achieving clean power by 2030. It acknowledged that the grid queue would need to be completely overhauled, taking out slow-moving or stalled projects and prioritising ones that are ready to connect. It also stated that achieving the required network build-out would require tightening the incentives and penalties applied to network companies.

And a lot more network is needed. NESO, the National Energy System Operator, calculates that meeting the 2030 targets will demand twice as much transmission network to be built between 2025-2030 than was built in the previous ten years.

Connections reform

On 8 December 2025 NESO published details of the reformed grid queue. NESO developed the new queue by ditching the ‘first come, first served’ approach and replacing it with a ‘first ready and needed’ model. Projects that met certain readiness criteria and were considered “strategically necessary” to achieving 2030 targets were prioritised and will be given a connection date of between now and end 2035. Almost all of the offshore wind projects in the queue met both standards and were put on the priority list.

And that was not the only grid development on the UK offshore wind sector’s 25-year anniversary.

Incentivising upgrades

On 4 December last year, Ofgem published the RIIO-3 Final Determinations for Electricity Transmission. RIIO-3 is the framework used by Ofgem to set allowed revenues for transmission network owners. In the Determinations Ofgem confirmed that it intends to implement new reward and penalty packages in the next price control period (1 April 2026 – 31 March 2031), to incentivise network companies to ensure prompt delivery of major network upgrades and customer connections.

In the same week, Ofgem also published a further consultation in their “Connections End-to end Review” series, in which they confirmed they are exploring the possibility of strengthening the existing Guaranteed Standards of Performance (GSoP) mechanism. This entitles customers to penalty payments from distribution network owners who fail to meet guaranteed standards in the customer connections process (including failure to complete works on the quoted date). Ofgem are considering whether to extend GSoP to transmission network owners and the merits of ensuring liquidated damages are included in connection agreements.

These measures would ensure customers have financial recourse if network companies fail to deliver on time.

Looking forward

So December 2025 was not just a milestone in the history of the UK’s offshore wind sector. It was also a significant month for grid related actions to deliver CP2030 targets. Hopefully these measures will ensure the next chapter in the UK’s offshore wind story is just as successful as the first.

Susan Swan is Chairing Session 8A – Connecting the dots: how grid connections can unlock offshore wind deployment at the Scottish Renewables Offshore Wind Conference, 28 – 29 January, SEC Glasgow. Visit Shepherd and Wedderburn at stand C9.

Contributors: