Harnessing Floating Offshore Wind energy in the Celtic Sea is one of the major opportunities for our area over the next 20-30 years. With the potential to create 50% of our area’s energy and become a multibillion-pound investment opportunity, the Western Gateway, and our local authorities, are spearheading efforts to make sure our area is ready to deliver and strengthen local supply chains in the process. Our Deputy Director, Steph Jary, explains how Western Gateway is playing a key role and why she was invited to speak at the Royal Danish Embassy’s annual Floating Offshore Wind conference last week.
Anyone following the work of the Western Gateway Partnership knows that “clean” energy, and this area’s ability to lead the production of it, is vital to our board’s vision for a greener, fairer future. It not only engenders growth for the area, but will help decarbonise our industry, protect our beautiful area in mitigating climate change, and provide long-term valuable jobs for our people.
Floating Offshore Wind in the Celtic Sea is a huge opportunity for our area, and an essential step for ensuring the UK can reach it’s climate targets. It’s here, it’s clean and its set to boom, massively, in the next 10 years or so. The Crown Estate, the owners of the seabed around the UK, estimate that we will need vast amounts of Port Infrastructure, manufacturing and engineering space and know how to build platforms and turbines, and then yet more steel and concrete to lay the cables and build the substations and run the actual wind-farms.
Floating offshore wind, unlike the traditional North Sea based offshore wind industry, is a developing technology and industry. So far, the world only has a few floating offshore wind turbines in action, and very few of any scale. As many of the expert and eloquent speakers at the event were able to demonstrate the UK is currently short in supply on the level of infrastructure and technology needed to deliver this at scale. There are limited vessels that can do the work and debates about where and how to land the generated power and if the Grid can accept it if you do.
And that is why this area is perfect for it!
As I discussed with the brilliant audience, this area has a unique heritage of innovation and a mix of vital assets and industries, in close proximity, to help solve many of these problems.
We have six ports, many of which are already gearing up to be able to supply this opportunity in the Celtic Sea. We have a pre-existing energy ecosystem with the businesses, skills, research, and cross-transferrable infrastructure needed to deliver at scale using local supply chains. What’s more there are complimentary forms of energy such as hydrogen, which can be created from the wind power making it truly green and essentially storing excess power; and nuclear which is uniquely suited to supplementing and balancing less predictable power.
We have the extensive manufacturing and engineering heritage, in steel, in aerospace, and with unique assets like the Marine Energy Centre of Excellence, the South Wales Industrial Cluster, and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult’s National Composites Centre, we’re absolutely set to tackle the engineering and materials challenges which will arise from trying to harness this power.
We have 12 universities, a highly skilled workforce and an ability to commercialise ideas rapidly and in truly unique ways. The success of SetSquared and creation of areas like the Baglan Energy Park, Bristol and Bath Science Park, and more, are examples of this in action. We work with the Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy hub to connect up to an even wider network of renewable energy expertise.
Crucially with Digital/AI and Quantum computing expertise here we can look to the operation of the windfarms, create digital-twins to optimise design, find better ways to balance Grid capacity, onshoring and design. We also have a ready-made offtake for the power!
Pair that with our unique and world-leading cyber-security, complimented by the under-pinning industry of compound semi-conductors produced here, and we have the means to: optimise design, build many components from newer/recyclable materials, secure the operation and the infrastructure from inception, and create a circular economy in the area.
With the Celtic Sea offering a brand new place for offshore wind, and demanding the latest technology in FLOW, we can optimise the potential of this fabulous natural resource whilst protecting both the environment and the heritage industries and communities in the area. Working with nature, with people and with each other to truly make a Greener, Fairer future for all.
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