RenewableUK is welcoming today's announcement by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero that two ports have been placed on a Primary List for potential funding to help them upgrade their facilities to take advantage of opportunities in the UK's growing floating offshore wind supply chain.
The applications for funding from the Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS) by Associated British Ports (ABP) Port Talbot in Wales and the Port of Cromarty Firth in Scotland will be taken forward for further consideration by DESNZ before any final decisions are taken later this year.
RenewableUK's Chief Executive and Co-Chair of the Floating Offshore Wind Taskforce Dan McGrail commented:
"I'm very pleased to see that two of the UK's major ports have reached the next stage of the process in potentially securing funding to transform their sites into industrial hubs for floating offshore wind. We already have one of the biggest pipelines of floating wind projects in the world - now we need to ensure we take advantage of this global leadership position by building a flourishing supply chain for the sector in the UK. We need to upgrade and upscale our ports so that they're able to manufacture and assemble the large components of floating offshore wind turbines which will be over 250 meters tall on platforms the size of football pitches".
"Ultimately we need to upgrade eleven ports around the UK to maximise the industrial opportunities this cutting-edge technology has to offer. Our analysis shows that £4 billion of private and public investment in ports by the end of the decade would drive £18 billion of wider economic activity. So whilst today's announcement is a welcome step, we need to keep a continued focus on unlocking private investment in ports going forward".
The Floating Offshore Wind Taskforce has stated that every £1 invested in UK port facilities would generate up to £4.30 of added value to our economy, and by 2040, the floating wind industry could support 45,000 jobs across the UK, with 34GW fully operational. RenewableUK predicts that floating wind will represent well over half of the UK's offshore wind generation by 2050. Floating wind projects can be built in deeper waters further out to sea where wind speeds are even higher.
For further information, please contact:
Robert Norris, Head of Communications 07969 229 913 Robert.Norris@RenewableUK.com
Notes:
- RenewableUK's members are building our future energy system, powered by clean electricity. We bring them together to deliver that future faster; a future which is better for industry, billpayers, and the environment. We support over 490 member companies to ensure increasing amounts of renewable electricity are deployed across the UK and to access export markets all over the world. Our members are business leaders, technology innovators, and expert thinkers from right across industry.
- The UK has 80 megawatts (MW) of floating wind fully operationalacross 2 projects - Hywind and Kincardine (second only to Norway which has 93.9MW fully operational across 3 projects). The Government has set a target of 5 gigawatts (GW) of operational floating wind capacity by 2030.
- The UK's total floating wind pipeline of projects at all stages of development (operational, under construction, consented, in the planning system or in early development) stands at 36.1 gigawatts (GW) across 49 projects (second only to Italy which has a total pipeline of 43.4GW across 48 projects, most of which are at an early stage of development).
- RenewableUK's events programme is available here.
Posted by: Rob Norris
