The UK is currently working on several renewable energy projects. With the cutting off of supply from Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the increasing strain on the world’s ozone layer, it is more important than ever to focus on energy efficiency.
The UK’s renewable energy drive
On the 30th of March, the UK government announced ambitious plans for more affordable, greener energy, to allow industries to thrive. The purpose of this is to boost energy security while reducing household bills and working towards achieving net zero.
Over the last two decades, the UK has seen investment of almost £200 billion into low-carbon energy, with an expectant £100 billion more to come. During this time, the UK has broken records for renewable energy generation and has placed itself in a good position to make further improvements. This is not to say that doing so will not take considerable amounts of time and effort. This mission to become more sustainable involves the combined skills of a range of experts from renewable energy lawyers to specialist energy advisors and engineers.
Hornsea Two Offshore Wind Farm
The UK currently has significantly more offshore wind capacity than many other countries, and one of the prominent projects contributing to this is the Hornsea Two Offshore wind farm.
Located off the Yorkshire coast in the North Sea, this wind farm is the sister project of Hornsea One, the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Hornsea Two, once fully operational will have the capacity to provide power to over 1.3 million homes and will overtake Hornsea One as the world’s biggest offshore wind farm.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm A, B & C
This project was developed in three phases and is spaced between 130km and 190km from the North-East coast. Once completed, they will have the capability to power up to 6 million homes, making it collectively larger than Hornsea Two.
The first phase of this project is set to be operational this year (2023) and has an expected 35-year lifetime.
Cleve Hill
Cleve Hill is a solar and energy storage park, located on the north Kent coast. Slightly smaller in scale, when built it is set to provide power to more than 91,000 homes. The park’s capacity exceeds 50 megawatts, meaning is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.
The park is also set to have a dedicated Habitat Management area for bird species.
Tees Renewable Energy Plant
This plant, which sources from sustainable forestry, powers 60,000 homes and produces 2.3TWh of low-carbon electricity annually. It also had significant community benefits, creating 600 jobs during construction phase and 100 jobs during operation.
Whatever forest is harvested is replaced with new growth. Protected and primary forests, ones that have been defined as naturally regenerated and show no indication of human activity, are not used. In order to comply with this, rigorous origin tracing is conducted, which includes collecting samples from trees to determine their DNA and age.
