Utility Week

20 | APRIL 2023 | UTILITY WEEK Policy & regulation Analysis What's the plan? Planning delays are crippling the rollout of green energy projects in the UK, and the situation has not improved despite constant promises to overhaul the system and fast-track investment. I naction and delay are no longer options when it comes to tackling climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned in its latest land- mark report. That may be news for those struggling to get renewables projects through the UK's planning system. A Development Consent Order (DCO) is the fast-track process set up by the last Labour government for handling nationally signi‚ cant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) like o… shore wind farms. The time it takes for an application to be approved increased by 65% between 2012 and 2021. Some o… shore wind projects are taking up to four years to secure a DCO, according to the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC). This includes Orsted's Hornsea Four wind farm, which has been in the planning process since 2018 when Theresa May was still prime minister. In February a ‚ ve-month delay was announced for determining the 2.6GW pro- ject, which has been sitting on ministers' desks since November when the Planning Inspectorate submitted its recommendation on whether it should be given the go-ahead. At least o… shore wind farms are eventu- ally getting consents, albeit they are delayed. Onshore wind projects are subject to a de facto planning ban in England, where only two small turbines were consented during the whole of 2022. The government, following the publica- tion of the British Energy Security Strategy last year, has outlined a series of moves that it professes will ease the planning process for renewables projects, on and o… shore. The ‚ rst of these was outlined in revi- sions to the National Planning Policy Frame- work (NPPF), snuck out for consultation three days before Christmas. The changes to the NPPF follow an intense debate among Tory backbenchers late last year about the direction of planning policy for onshore wind projects. However, hopes that the government would relax its stance against onshore wind, which had been raised by levelling-up secretary Michael Gove in December, have been dashed. The changes to the NPPF essentially tweak the document's existing wording, maintaining a series of tests for onshore wind that don't apply to other types of devel- opment. While these tests have been modi- ‚ ed, their retention means that onshore wind developers will still be "extremely reluctant" to consider investing in England, says Energy UK in its response to the NPPF consultation. Tom Glover, UK country chair at RWE, told a recent Energy UK breakfast brie‚ ng that despite the changes, the de facto ban of onshore wind in England still largely exists. "The changes that are proposed will not practically change consenting on the ground so onshore wind in England is pretty much impossible," he said. Matthew Sharpe, a senior director at infrastructure planning consultancy Quod, agrees that the NPPF revisions don't "really change much" for those promoting onshore wind projects. "It seems to be the worst example of fudge because it doesn't really give promot- ers of onshore wind any con‚ dence that they can now press ahead. It's a half-way house that doesn't really give anybody con‚ dence." Analysis of the NPPF changes, carried out by Aurora Energy Research, suggests that they will shiœ less than 1GW of capacity to England from Scotland, where a more per- missive planning for onshore wind exists. Ashutosh Padelkar, Aurora associate for GB Power, says: "What was promised origi- nally was a much larger order of magnitude than what was delivered by the government. The table is still tilted against onshore wind." Onshore wind in England is also held back by the better economics of generating in Scotland, where wind speeds tend to be stronger and more reliable than south of the border. But a more level planning playing ‚ eld could lead to the deployment of much more merchant capacity, Padelkar, says. Few onshore wind projects will be deliv- ered unless the government is prepared to be "braver" and identify the types of loca- tion where there should be a presumption in favour of onshore wind development, says Quod's Sharpe. An action plans for NSIPs Following this damp squib in December, February saw the unveiling of an action plan to speed up the processing of NSIPs. This includes the piloting from Septem- ber of a new fast-track application mecha- nism to streamline the planning process for large-scale infrastructure schemes, herald- ing potentially shorter timescales for certain projects. Proposed reforms include the introduc- tion of a more robust pre-application process, which is designed to incentivise statutory "The changes that are proposed will not practically change consenting on the ground so onshore wind in England is pretty much impossible." Tom Glover, UK country chair, RWE "The changes that are proposed will not practically change consenting on the ground so onshore wind in England is pretty much impossible." Tom Glover

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