Launch of our Offshore energy infrastructure landscaping report

To reach the Government target, all of the potential capacity in the portfolio would need to be installed by 2030.

With a typical nine-year development period from site identification to construction completion, the sites need to be identified and commenced immediately.

Beyond the 2030 target, an additional capacity of renewable energy, including offshore wind, will be required to meet the further target of net-zero by 20501.

A strategy to efficiently deploy new renewable energy and grid networks, whilst adapting existing oil and gas infrastructure soon to be made redundant, is to move towards an integrated offshore grid and coordinate landfall of cables and pipelines.

These pressures on cable landings, across the UK, will increase in response to the new targets.

Alternate technologies, such as CCS and hydrogen, are also expected to seek similar infrastructure access.

Interested parties may not be aware of what work has been or is being undertaken to alleviate these constraints.

Parties may only be familiar with or restricted by, their scope and remit - rather than how their activity interacts with and impacts the whole system.

We have been asked if we can facilitate an over-arching knowledge-sharing exercise. The first step in this is to map the company interests, the active groups leading change, and relevant stakeholder groups.

This report is that landscaping report.

Our landscaping report has shown that there is a finite amount of available space in the offshore environment, and many demands upon it, whilst requiring suitable protections.

Whilst this is well known to developers and operators within these environments, it is often a surprise to many who view the seas as large areas and are unaware of usage.

The report covers UK offshore infrastructure connection points, barriers to integrated offshore networks, marine spatial planning, case studies, recommendations and more.