ISR researchers contribute to new Carbon Trust report

Deputy Director of ISR Professor Michael Grubb and Senior Research Fellow Paul Drummond have helped to design and implement the research approach used by the Carbon Trust in a new report published this week.

The report: 'Policy, innovation and cost reduction in UK offshore wind', shows how policy has been central to delivering a mature and cost competitive industry in which companies are comfortable investing billions of pounds.

ISR Senior Research Fellow Paul Drummond said:

“Although funding for R&D is vital, this report clearly demonstrates that policies to encourage the deployment of low-carbon technologies can be decisive in rapidly driving down their costs, as learning takes place and economies of scale develop."

According to the report, the price of offshore wind is less than a third of what it was a decade ago and is now cost competitive with new fossil fuel generation. If electricity prices return to pre-Covid levels the Government would no longer be subsidising new offshore wind. The industry has grown to a point where oil and gas companies are anxious to enter the market.

Read more on the report.

Photo by Nicholas Doherty on Unsplash