The U.K. is the largest market in the world for offshore wind and has set a target to build 40 gigawatts by 2030, a four-fold increase from now. Achieving this would cost as much as 50 billion pounds and require one turbine to be installed every weekday during the whole of the 2020s, according to Aurora Energy Research Ltd. Linking all this capacity to the onshore grid is likely to be both costly and difficult. The plan would connect a number of individual wind farms located in a similar geographical area, via the shared use of offshore transmission infrastructure.
Last week, National Grid and Dutch grid Tennet BV announced a plan for a cable to connect offshore wind farms in both nations. The U.K. network manager’s plan involves more agreements like this one.
By 2030 Vattenfall will have enough offshore wind capacity to supply 5 million homes.