§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 19 May (WA 91–92), why 126WA offshore wind farms received only £500,000 of climate change and renewables obligation invoices. [HL4001]
§ Lord Sainsbury of TurvilleOffshore wind farms had received only around £0.5 million in support from the renewables obligation and climate change levy by May of this year because of the limited amount of offshore capacity actually in place at this point.
Only two offshore wind farms existed when the original Question was tabled, a third at Scroby Sands was under construction and is currently undergoing final testing. The first of the two, a small 3.8 MW facility at Blyth, was constructed in 2000, and the second, the 60 MW facility at North Hoyle, was completed in November 2003, and hence had only been receiving support for just six months.
This needs to be contrasted with the amount of onshore capacity receiving support at this point, around 650 MW, almost half of which had been in place since the start of the renewables obligation.