London approves the installation of a "record" capacity of new offshore wind projects

The selected projects will produce 8,4 gigawatts of electricity, the British government said in a statement, claiming that this is "the largest public order for offshore wind power in the history of the United Kingdom and Europe".

In a previous tender in September 2024, London had already announced a "record number" of 131 renewable energy projects, representing nearly 10 gigawatts in total, but offshore wind made up only about half of them.

Thanks to wind power, both onshore and offshore, the United Kingdom is one of the most advanced countries in Europe in terms of renewable energy. However, it still lags behind the Scandinavian countries, which derive a very large proportion of their electricity from wind and hydroelectric dams.

The British government has pledged that decarbonized generation sources will cover 100% of the country's electricity demand by 2030 and 95% of total production, taking into account the executive's ambition to become a net exporter of electricity.

For Greenpeace UK, wind is "the best fuel to reduce high energy prices" in the country and the government's announcement allows the UK to stay aligned with its targets.

The UK's main employers' organization, the CBI, welcomes "a transformation that is already generating significant economic benefits in terms of investment, jobs and growth across the country."

According to the government, the projects approved on Wednesday, led by several developers including the German group RWE, will "unlock approximately 22 billion pounds (25 billion euros) of private investment and support around 7.000 jobs" in the country.

In 2023, another tender failed to attract any offshore wind projects, as companies were discouraged by a regulated price that was too low in these government-allocated contracts.

This contract price has since been raised to attract businesses. The economic growth association Britain Remade criticized what it considers to be excessively high levels, which paradoxically risk driving up bills and are "now locked in for 20 years under new contracts with producers."