New UK plant delays in wait for subsidies and consent

Analysis of new power capacity set to enter the UK’s grid across the rest of the decade reveals a stark hiatus in construction over the next four years as developers wait for government subsidy mechanisms to be phased in.

With legally binding commitments to emissions reductions precluding the construction of new coal plant, the UK has tied itself to a future of thermal power generated from nuclear and gas-fired facilities.

However, the UK’s new subsidy mechanism for drawing flexible power generation on to the grid is only set to enter force later this year when the first auction for both new and existing capacity to provide availability during Winter 2018/19 takes place.

And with the capacity market only inciting new plant to come online at the end of the decade, the UK’s construction pipeline in the intervening period is bereft of new gas and nuclear generation.

New gas plant

ESBI’s 860MW gas-fired plant at Carrington in the North West of the country is currently the only such facility under construction and set to connect to the grid before 2018.

Construction on two other CCGT plants totalling 3.5GW of capacity – Carlton Power’s Thorpe Marsh and Trafford Power stations – is set to begin next year with final commissioning scheduled in line for the end of the 2018 when delivery under the first round of the capacity market takes effect.

The subsidised mechanism is aiming to guarantee the availability of 53GW of flexible generating capacity including both new and existing plant for delivery at the start of Winter 2018/19 ( see EDEM 3 October 2014 ).

Offshore wind reliance

The UK is notably reliant on new offshore wind developments to add to its grid over the next four years, with just under 2GW currently being built and scheduled to come online by 2017.

The 258MW Burbo Bank extension – with government consent and funding secured – is also scheduled to connect to the grid by the end of 2017, although construction is yet to begin as developers DONG Energy weigh up a final investment decision.

Further out, a swathe of offshore wind could be on course to connect to the grid from 2018 as developers benefitting from the government’s early enabling scheme for renewables investment finalise their financing and construction plans.

Three offshore developments – the 750MW Beatrice project, 750MW Walney Extension and 1.2GW Hornsea – have been granted funding by the government although the latter two are awaiting consent to build from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Onshore wind obstructions

Onshore, the landscape for new wind farms above 100MW is more barren, with just one 230MW development fully consented, under construction and set to connect to grid before 2017.

Data from the UK Wind Energy Database suggests the UK is being stockpiled with a larger aggregate of onshore wind, as 1.7GW of capacity consisting mainly of small and medium scale developments is under construction.

But setbacks in the construction of transmission links and objections from local councils and pressure groups have stalled several large-scale developments in the last year.

Both the 160MW Strathy South and the 114MW Glenmorie developments that were due for 2017 grid connection have tripped up in the planning system this year, while the 412MW Viking Energy project, 160MW Nant-Y-Moch farm and 150MW Carnedd Wen Wind farm have been subject to long-standing public inquires and appeal processes with no end in sight.

In addition to Vattenfall’s Pen Y Cymoedd wind farm, GDF Suez’s 140MW Beinn Mhor was the other major onshore project under construction scheduled for a pre-2017 grid connection until a delay in transmission links pushed the project back to 2018 at the earliest. Henry Evans