In July, the UK government approved six fixed offshore wind projects, generating electricity for more than 7 million homes. This will be a major boost to the UK’s efforts to meet its net zero and energy security commitments. To help further with achieving the UK’s energy goals, the government has announced that the upcoming Energy Bill will be amended to cut the time it takes to get permission for offshore wind farms.

Essentially, for priority cases where quality standards are met, the relevant secretary of state will be able to set shorter examination timescales for project approval due to an amendment to the Planning Act 2008. This planning reform underpins the government’s ambition of 50GW of energy from offshore wind by 2030.

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