UK Offshore Energy and Priorities for the North Sea – WEET Forum key takeaways

Sponsored by Burges Salmon, the Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum met recently to discuss the next steps for UK Offshore Energy and Priorities for the North Sea.  James Phillips, our Head of Energy and Utilities Sector Group and Natalie Cooke, a solicitor in the Real Estate Energy team attended. 

The event considered both the progress made to date and the challenges that lie ahead. The key takeaways are summarised below:

• The Goal: 
  • The UK aims to triple its offshore energy capacity by 2030, with a focus on wind, green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) for industrial decarbonisation. Achieving this scale will require significant capital investment, including £15 billion in capital and £58 billion in grid upgrades.
• A Co-ordinated Response: 
  • Integration will key to enabling different energy sectors to work in the same space, and technology has advanced to support this. 
  • CCS in close proximity to current wind projects (colocation) is theoretically possible but difficult currently from a legal and planning perspective. 
  • Practical challenges for shipping also need to be carefully managed. 
  • A coordinated response to integration and colocation has been suggested, to ensure that space is optimised and projects don’t end up competing. The UK has made progress here through the marine planning system in which TCE has a key role. Work is also currently underway with the Planning and Infrastructure Bill which is now in the House of Lords. 
  • One potential solution that has been mooted is to introduce a coordinated offshore authority or task force.
• Meeting the skills gap: 
  • Transferring skills from the oil and gas sector and embedding green skills in education are seen as crucial, whilst ensuring that regional hubs are adequately supported:
  • A skills passport to help map existing skills against future needs was encouraged, to help speed up the upskilling process
  • It was noted that encouraging young people to enter the sector requires showing them a stable career path and clear progression.
• Marine Protection:
  • Consideration needs to be given to potential noise, construction, physical impact and vibration impacts, with adequate monitoring. A more coordinated approach to this would be beneficial. We can unlock the potential of offshore wind whilst driving nature recovery. A healthy sea is good for net zero. 
  • Policy makers need to approach this as a technology challenge and a social and justice challenge, with suggestions made during the event for local communities to be co-designers of projects.
• Legal Considerations: 
  • The use of new technologies, increasing scale and faster-to-market products creates challenges as well as opportunities.  
  • Avoiding time consuming and costly disputes will be important for the industry to continue to develop at the speed required.  
  • Detailed governance and regulation are likely to be forthcoming in relation to future decommissioning.  The procedures are now becoming subject to rigorous review by the courts.  This is not unique to the UK – we have seen it in the Netherlands.  The ECHR has also taken a keen interest.  It is an area of legal complexity which will not go away.

The geology of the UK makes it uniquely positioned to lead the world in offshore energy production. The conclusion of the Forum was that an integrated effort will be needed to achieve the scale required.

This summary was written by Natalie Cooke and James Phillips.