Offshore Wind
Policy Asks
- A successor to the ‘FLOWMIS’ scheme (floating offshore wind manufacturing and investment scheme) is needed. It must deliver funding much more effectively than the current scheme and its predecessors, which are slow and difficult to engage with.
- Government can do more to help make UK ports more attractive to investment and ‘ready’ for floating offshore wind, including beefing up UK content rules, squeezing more power from sites that have been consented already, and helping de-risk investment.
Ports are critical to the development of offshore wind. The sector is optimistic about the opportunities the transition to renewables will bring. It is vital that government is ready to offer the support necessary to ensure UK ports are competitive so that the jobs and prosperity associated with the transition stay in the UK.
The ports industry welcomed the Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing and Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS), which is designed to anchor the floating offshore wind industry firmly in the UK, but it has been too small and too slow to deliver. Previous iterations have failed to deliver any funding at all. The scheme, which was heavily oversubscribed, should be expanded and improved to ensure that UK ports remain attractive to investment and viable for projects which can often carry a high degree of risk.
UK ports are competing with each other as well as European ports for investment. The types of activities ports will facilitate will be extensive, covering manufacturing, assembly, storage, installation and maintenance. We want the UK to be the home of the offshore wind industry in the same way it is for North Sea oil and gas, so we capture as much of the jobs and prosperity that accompany the energy transition, as well as the emissions benefits.
The sector needs focussed, quantified, front-loaded investment to accelerate collective improvement in port infrastructure across the UK. This will ensure an industrial ecosystem capable of delivering the quantum of offshore wind required by the mid-2030’s. Investment is needed several years before projects begin to accrue revenue so the sector is looking for support to help encourage certainty. This means there is a requirement for some public sector intervention which could include “de-risking” funding models.
The ports industry welcomed the Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing and Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS), which is designed to anchor the floating offshore wind industry firmly in the UK, but it has been too small and too slow to deliver. Previous iterations have failed to deliver any funding at all. The scheme, which was heavily oversubscribed, should be expanded and improved to ensure that UK ports remain attractive to investment and viable for projects which can often carry a high degree of risk.
UK ports are competing with each other as well as European ports for investment. The types of activities ports will facilitate will be extensive, covering manufacturing, assembly, storage, installation and maintenance. We want the UK to be the home of the offshore wind industry in the same way it is for North Sea oil and gas, so we capture as much of the jobs and prosperity that accompany the energy transition, as well as the emissions benefits.
The sector needs focussed, quantified, front-loaded investment to accelerate collective improvement in port infrastructure across the UK. This will ensure an industrial ecosystem capable of delivering the quantum of offshore wind required by the mid-2030’s. Investment is needed several years before projects begin to accrue revenue so the sector is looking for support to help encourage certainty. This means there is a requirement for some public sector intervention which could include “de-risking” funding models.