In January, the Group was the biggest winner in the ScotWind auction, with seabed rights awarded for three offshore projects with total capacity of 7GW – two large-scale floating projects in partnership with Shell and one solo fixed project. Taken together, these projects treble the Group's offshore wind pipeline to more than 10GW and boost its position in UK's offshore wind market.
In June, Ofgem published its Draft Determination for a £3bn upgrade for SP Energy Networks distribution network as part of the ED2 price control. This forms the basis for preparing the electricity network to connect renewable energy and the electrification of transport and heat.
July saw the Group's renewables business secure contracts for a record 16 renewable energy projects – offshore, onshore and solar – across the UK in the Allocation Round 4 process. Totalling 2.1 GW, these projects will almost double the company's green energy generation capacity, spurring investment of up to £4bn.
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Also, in July the ESO's Holistic Network Design plan set out the need for £5bn of investment in 12 SP Energy Networks onshore transmission projects that will be essential for delivering the UK's 2030 offshore wind targets.
Together, all these projects are integral to delivering ambitious net zero targets and providing greater energy security and independence for the UK.
To help deliver this record level of investment and infrastructure projects the Group has announced its biggest ever recruitment drive with plans to recruit at least 1,000 new roles across the company between 2022-23. These roles will be directly employed across all areas of the Group's businesses and at all stages, from trainees to time served trades and supporting roles. The UK supply chain will also see a further boost and potentially thousands more indirect jobs created as the company's billions of pounds worth of projects advance at pace.
As the energy crisis has intensified during 2022, the Group's retail business has been a leading voice in calling for industry wide interventions and government measures to protect consumers from spiralling wholesale costs, as a result of the on-going war in Ukraine and gas crisis. The company has welcomed the UK's government's package of support for domestic and business customers announced in September and is continuing to provide a range of measures to support customers through the ongoing crisis.
Keith Anderson, ScottishPower, CEO, said: "The momentum of the first six months of 2022 and our record of achievement now gives us our biggest ever investment pipeline of green energy assets to help deliver the Government's energy strategy and net zero for the UK.
"Accelerating at pace on green energy infrastructure has never been more important than it is now and is the answer to the issues we're seeing globally on energy security and cost and the Group is well placed to support the vital transition to a cleaner, greener and more secure energy market.
"With this huge investment comes jobs and supply chain opportunities and we are now actively recruiting least 1,000 people to join us in new positions to design, build and operate this green energy infrastructure and help fulfil our ambitions."
