Renewable construction pipeline expands

According to Glenigan data, the move toward renewable energy construction was already gathering pace before the recent conflict in the Middle East.

However, the added volatility in global oil prices is likely to reinforce this shift and boost prospects for new construction work on renewable energy projects.

The already buoyant level of new investment in solar farms and wind power projects is set to rise further as demand for alternative energy sources grows from both consumers and businesses. Hydrogen projects also offer new work opportunities.

Glenigan data shows that workload across the energy sector continues to increase, supported partly by the government’s Clean Power 2030 strategy, which aims for around 95% of UK electricity to come from clean energy by 2030.

To this end, the government last month approved record levels of new solar and onshore wind projects as part of its latest renewables auction (a competitive process used to award contracts to firms that build renewable energy projects).

It involves subsidies via renewables contracts for around 190 green energy projects, including the largest English onshore windfarm in a decade, the Imerys project near St Austell in Cornwall, where a pre-planning application has been approved (Project ID: 21127717). They also include the Sanquhar II Wind Farm in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, involving 44 turbines (Project ID: 18182875).

In total, contracts were awarded to 157 new solar farms, 28 new onshore wind farms, 12 offshore wind farm schemes, and four tidal power projects.

Energy project starts double

As it is, work on new electricity generation, grid upgrades, and storage infrastructure projects is creating significant new opportunities for construction work.

According to the February issue of the Glenigan Construction Review, energy sector starts accounted for 63% of all civil engineering projects which got underway in the three months to January and were worth some £1.4 billion, double the level of a year earlier.

The upturn is continuing into this year. According to the latest Glenigan Index of construction starts under £100 million, the utilities sector – driven in large part by more energy work – rose by 33% during December-February compared to the previous three months to stand 11% up on a year earlier.

Investment in new wind power, which accounts for around a third of the renewables market, is set to grow strongly. Encouraged by the government, planning applications for onshore wind increased sharply last year, with approval being sought for some 135 projects which are set to generate 4.4 GW of electricity.

One onshore scheme where detailed plans have been granted, and work is set to start this spring, is a £24 million scheme of 12 onshore wind turbines and a battery storage facility at a site in Tarbert in Strathclyde. Work on the scheme for RWE Generation UK, which is at the pre-tender stage, is set to run for nine months (Project ID: 20310133).

Meanwhile, Glenigan project data shows some significant new offshore wind energy projects remain in the pipeline. One major scheme where detailed plans have been granted and which is at the pre-tender stage is the £700 million Outer Dousing Offshore Wind Site. It involves around 100 turbines, some 54km off the coast of Louth in Lincolnshire, and work is set to start this summer and run for 43 months (Project ID: 22295310).

Sunny outlook for new facilities

Meanwhile, a growing number of solar energy facilities are being approved, which involve significant civil engineering, electrical infrastructure, and grid connection construction work.

Amongst the larger schemes, Glenigan data shows that detailed plans have been submitted on the £150 million West Burton Solar Project in Lincolnshire, a nationally significant infrastructure project which is the largest solar farm ever to win a government renewables contract. Work on the scheme, which is at the pre-tender stage, is set to start this autumn and run for 15 months (Project ID: 22057405).

Glenigan data also gives details on numerous other solar energy projects of varying sizes around the country.

For example, at Chillington Estate Solar Farm in Wolverhampton, detailed plans have been granted on Elgin Energy’s £50 million photovoltaic development to generate 50 MW of electricity along with a battery energy storage system and associated infrastructure. Work on the project, which is at the pre-tender stage, is due to start this summer and continue for 12 months (Project ID: 23178224).

Meanwhile, at the £16 million Cox’s Brook Solar Farm in Gloucestershire, construction work is set to get underway later this year on a project which will generate 16 MW of electricity. The scheme, for client PS Renewables, is at the pre-tender stage, and work will run for nine months (Project ID: 23160414).

Glenigan data also shows that construction on electricity-from-hydrogen projects also offers scope for new work. In recent weeks, an investment decision has been approved for the West Wales Hydrogen project, a new facility at a freeport site in a former oil refinery in Milford Haven, to be built by MorGen Energy.

Work on the 20 MW scheme, which is one of the first commercial-scale hydrogen projects to be backed by a government support scheme, is expected to start this year (Project ID: 23272525).