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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Alex Lawson

Two-thirds of green energy projects in Great Britain fail to clear planning stage

A turbine installation vessel at the Race Bank offshore wind farm in the southern North Sea
A turbine installation vessel at the Race Bank offshore windfarm. Many windfarm projects do not make it through the planning stage, Cornwall Insight found. Photograph: Rob Arnold/Alamy

Two-thirds of applications to build renewable energy projects in Great Britain have failed to get through the planning stage over the past five years, hampering efforts to shift towards clean electricity generation.

A study of Britain’s “renewables pipeline” found that 63% of mooted projects were either abandoned, refused planning permission, or an application was withdrawn or ultimately expired between 2018 and 2023. The remainder of the applications were either approved or revised, according to the research by the consultancy Cornwall Insight.

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