Two years ago, on this day, September 12th, 2023,
“No bids were received by offshore wind developers due to what companies said were unrealistically low prices.
Afterwards, wind farm manufacturers said they held positive discussions with Claire Coutinho, the new Energy Security Secretary, but were left bewildered days later by a meeting with Graham Stuart, the Net Zero Minister, who appeared to play down the auction results.
His comments during a meeting on Tuesday [12 September 2023] left some attendees unsure whether the Government was committed to addressing the issues in next year’s auction, multiple sources said.
Oliver, M. 2023. “Industry on hold after auction flop spooks developers. Sunday Telegraph, September 17”
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QLlam1rJWJ76VZ66kfh81SwlRhxeZwnO8BuxaJj7CxA/edit?usp=sharing
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 376ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that offshore wind was the accidental success story of UK renewable energy policy. There was a de facto ban on on-shore wind, thanks to the government of David “cut the green crap” Cameron, so offshore began to look attractive….
The specific context was that by this time two years ago (god it feels like forever) the Sunak government had decided that pissing on the environment might be a vote winner.
What I think we can learn from this is that we are stumbling into some very nasty situations. With our eyes open. Oh well.
What happened next
There’s another auction – with results due in December or so (everything’s delayed at present).
UK to Launch Seventh CfD Auction in August, Offshore Wind Has Its Own AR7 Timeline | Offshore Wind
Here’s Reform’s Richard Tice on the latest auction
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
September 12, 1958 – Letter in The Times about … carbon dioxide build-up
September 12, 2003 – Newcastle Herald thinks the future of coal looks ‘cleaner’…