The Government's publication of the Onshore Wind Taskforce Strategy details its commitment to address the key barriers to onshore wind deployment in the UK. This article considers the key parts of the strategy, and how this is intended to boost growth of the onshore wind market.
Published on 4 July 2025, the Onshore Wind Taskforce Strategy details over forty steps that Government and industry need to take to deliver up top 29GW of onshore wind by 2030. This builds on the Government's early lifting of the ban on onshore wind in England, and forms part of the wider expansion of renewables under the Government's Clean Power 2030 Action Plan - requiring the mass deployment of offshore wind, onshore wind and solar.
The Strategy acknowledges the significant challenges for the onshore wind sector, including planning permission and site selection, grid connection delays and access to finance – and sets out action plans to address these concerns.
Planning and site selection
Onshore wind projects face considerable barriers to deployment as a result of complex planning requirements and acquisition of land rights. These processes can take upwards of 5 years and misalignment between developer priorities and statutory concerns can cause further delays. The Strategy highlights that 30% of projects that submit an application do not receive consent. This lack of certainty and transparency impacts project viability and leads to high attrition rates.
To streamline deployment, the Strategy identifies the following actions:
- Environment: Replace the current system of environmental assessment with Environmental Outcomes Reports (EORs). This should ensure that assessments are proportionate and reduce costs and delay. The Government will also establish a Nature Restoration Fund to pool contributions from developers, allowing a strategic approach to environmental improvements that will reduce the need for individual site level assessments. These measures form part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that is currently before Parliament.
- Great British Energy: Once operational, use GB Energy (the Government-owned energy developer) to originate new projects and seek partnerships to accelerate the delivery of onshore wind – particularly in regions with under-deployment of wind. The expectation is that this will provide investment certainty and help stimulate private capital.
- Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Regime (NSIP): The Government has re-introduced onshore wind to the NSIP regime, removing the de facto ban on onshore wind introduced in 2016. Recognising technological developments, the Government is setting the threshold for "nationally significant" onshore wind projects at 100MW – giving a clear route for large scale projects, and allow smaller scale projects to access more proportionate local planning processes. The Government also plans to introduce powers to allow the Secretary of State to disapply requirements for "nationally significant" projects, allowing flexibility and the use of the most appropriate planning route.
- Consultations on permitted development rights for onshore wind: There is recognition that current Permitted Developer rights are outdated, and the limits (e.g. height, swept area and distance from the ground) do not take account of developments in wind turbine technology. The Government will consult on whether existing permitted development rights are fit for purpose, and explore other forms of small-scale onshore wind deployment (eg community-owned onshore wind).
- Updates to the Planning Policy and guidance: The Government plan to publish updated National Policy Statements for Energy Infrastructure (NPS) by the end of 2025 and Low Carbon Energy Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) by Autumn 2025.
Strategic energy planning and grid connections
Sites that are attractive to onshore wind developers (i.e. locations with higher wind speeds and land availability) tend to be remote from existing electricity network infrastructure. It is also common for onshore wind projects to receive connection offers with dates beyond 2035, impacting project viability and costs. To address these concerns, the Strategy sets out the following:
- Connections reform: Ofgem approved the grid reform package (TMO4+) to address the current connections queue across the transmission and distribution networks in Great Britain. The reform will also implement a one-off reorganisation of the current queue to prioritise projects that are both ready and needed. Our article on Grid Reform TMO4 explores the reform package in more detail.
- Strategic energy planning: The Strategy highlights the importance of certainty on the Government's deployment plans with anticipatory network investment to reduce the waiting times for onshore wind projects connected to the grid. The Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) will guide long-term infrastructure planning across Great Britain's land and sea between 2030-2050. The Centralised Strategic Network Plan (CSNP) will build on the SSEP by making comprehensive transmission network recommendations extending beyond 2050. NESO, Ofgem and DESNZ are aiming to deliver these by the end of 2026 and 2027 respectively.
Finance and routes to market
Rising costs for turbines, balance of plant equipment and construction costs impact developers' access to funding and viability of onshore wind projects. Developers are facing a number of challenges, including higher interest rates and pressures on commodity prices, which make projects more expensive to deliver. The Strategy acknowledges the difficulties that developers face in reaching Financial Investment Decisions and are aiming to address these concerns with the following actions:
- Establishing a joint industry-government pipeline and delivery group: RenewableUK and DESNZ intend to create a sub-group of the Onshore Wind Council comprised of onshore wind developers, supply chain companies and policy makers. The group will monitor the challenges that the projects face to improve targeted interventions to address barriers to deployment.
- Contracts for Difference (CfD): DESNZ intend to publish their responses to the CfD Allocation Round 7 Consultation in Summer 2025. They are considering changes to CfD contract terms to give longer market certainty (including increasing the current 15-year CfD terms), will publish an auction schedule for upcoming allocation rounds and review auction parameters to address concerns raised over Reference Prices.
- Power purchase agreements (PPAs): While CfDs remain the main the primary route to market, PPAs revenues can provide a complimentary role in driving investment. The Strategy recognises the limitations of the PPA market (such as the market appetite for long-term fixed price PPAs, the scale of demand and the credit strength of end-users). A key action is for the National Wealth Fund to explore structures to support onshore wind projects or portfolios where the end-user does not have an investment-grade credit rating.
Concluding thoughts
The Onshore Wind Taskforce Strategy has been launched at a pivotal time for UK's renewable energy sector, addressing concerns about project attrition over rising costs and lack of regulatory transparency. Alongside the lifting of the previous Government's ban on onshore wind, this Strategy helps deliver on the objectives in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan. For onshore wind, targets were set for near-doubling of onshore wind capacity to 29GW by 2030 to support energy security, affordability and decarbonisation. These efforts are expected to generate up to 45,000 direct and indirect jobs and unlock £70m in additional investment for local community benefits. Delivery of these plans rely on effective collaboration between Government, industry and local communities. Also critical is the passing of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the implementation of the recent grid reform package.
Landowners, developers and funders alike will welcome this Strategy, and its objective to resolve the key blockers to onshore wind in the UK. Given the plans to significantly expand onshore wind capacity, smoothing the path for project delivery is critical if the UK is to achieve its policy ambitions.
We provide seamless advice on real estate, planning, connections, construction, operation and decommissioning of onshore wind projects. If you are considering new onshore wind projects, or the repowering, replacement or expansion of existing sites, then please get in touch with our Energy and Sustainability team.
