Mr. Noel Cunniffe:

I am happy to do that. We have just come out of the more recent renewable electricity support scheme auction for onshore renewables. It gives us a clear example where there have been increased costs relating to materials for onshore wind energy and for solar energy. That is not the only reason costs are going up. There are still many uncertainties in terms of policies related to grid infrastructure and planning systems. These are being baked into driving up costs. When it comes to costs specifically for offshore wind and for floating offshore wind energy, we do not yet have a good example in Europe for what the costs of developing floating offshore wind energy for commercial-scale projects will be. Britain and France are both in the process of developing and running auctions specifically for floating wind energy. In the next six to 12 months we should have a good idea of what the real commercial costs will be for developing floating offshore wind energy. We will be happy to share that with the committee whenever that comes to light.

There is concern among the development community for offshore wind projects for this decade about how they will source those materials, the right supply chain and the right ships. We mentioned that every country right around Europe right now is looking at how to increase its renewable energy targets. Right now, the European supply chain is just not capable of keeping up with it. That is why it is important that we get on board and we start contributing to that.