Government has published a long-term strategy that will ‘strengthen the UK’s position in the offshore wind industry’.

As part of the ‘Offshore Wind Industrial Sector Strategy’, government will assign £20 million of the £2.4 billion Regional Growth Fund for ‘GROW: Offshore Wind’, a new Manufacturing Advisory Service programme to support the UK supply chain to become more competitive by ‘offering tailored support from specialists’, and £46 million over five years for the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Centre to ‘join up innovation’ between industry, government and academia and help companies to bring new products to market.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has also announced that the Green Investment Bank will invest a ‘significant proportion’ of its £3.8 billion capital in offshore wind, co-investing in projects with commercial parties.

The work will be led by the Offshore Wind Industry Council, a new partnership between government and industry, with support across government through teams in DECC, BIS and UKTI as well as by the governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Other details released by the DECC as part of the strategy include:

• promoting industry-led initiatives to share information with the supply chain about their procurement timelines and contracting decision points;
• a proposal requiring developers of offshore wind farms above a certain size (to be announced later this month) to produce a supply chain plan before they can apply for a Contract for Difference – long-term contracts to provide stable revenues for investors in low carbon energy projects; and
• expanding the scope of the DECC offshore wind manufacturing funding scheme to support port and coastal infrastructure development in assisted areas of England.

According to the strategy, the offshore wind sector has ‘massive growth potential’, with forecasts showing that the EU could see 28 gigawatts (GW) of installed offshore wind capacity across the EU by 2020 and 55GW across the EU by 2030.

Further, analysts at BVG Associates claim that with a ‘strong growth scenario’, the sector could deliver around £7 billion each year Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy (excluding exports) and over 30,000 full time equivalent UK jobs by 2020, as well as £7–18 billn in estimated net exports by 2030.

‘Real Momentum’

Commenting on the strategy, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:“The race is now on to lead the world in clean, green energy. As an island nation, and with our weather, the UK is ideally placed to make the most of offshore wind energy - you could say it was a technology designed for us.

“This strategy will help keep Britain as the world leader in one of the most important industries of the 21st Century. If we make the most of offshore wind’s potential in the UK, it can provide a big proportion of the energy that lights our homes and powers our economy.”

Energy Secretary Ed Davey added: “Offshore wind is already an important contributor to our energy mix, with the amount of electricity we generate from it increasing by 46 per cent last year.

“Yet the future opportunity is much greater, so we have provided more certainty to offshore wind investors, setting out the support available under the Renewables Obligation and publishing draft strike prices earlier than expected.”

Commenting on the technology’s benefits, Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “We have more offshore wind power than the rest of the world combined and, if we get it right and strike now, we will also see this new technology creating thousands of jobs here as well.

"The key achievement of the strategy is to develop a strong commitment by the industry to develop a UK supply chain together with ambitious plans to deliver it. I would hope to see something approaching the 70 per cent that we already see in the oil and gas sector of supply chain made in Britain.”

The strategy has been welcomed by many in the industry, with manufacturers’ organization EEF saying:“A plan to capture the industrial benefits of the government’s offshore wind strategy is vital. Just 30 per cent of the components used in the industry currently come from UK businesses, so there’s a real risk that energy policy will create a heavily subsidised market for overseas manufacturers, all paid for by the British consumer.

“Today’s announcement pulls together a number of existing initiatives on finance, innovation and skills into a more coherent plan to support the industry. Its success will be judged on its ability to deliver the Business Secretary’s ambition to see 70 per cent of the components that go into offshore wind farms made in Britain, rather than the less ambitious industry goal of 50 per cent.”

Read the ‘Offshore Wind Industrial Sector Strategy'.

Opening of Lincs wind farm

(L-R): Centrica Energy’s Managing Director Mark Hanafin, Centrica's Chief Executive Sam Laidlaw, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Secretary launched the strategy yesterday (1 August), during a visit to officially open the Lincs wind farm off the coast of Lincolnshire, developed by Centrica with their project partners DONG Energy and Siemens.

The last of the wind farm’s 75 wind turbines was connected to the National Grid last Wednesday (24 July), and the array is now capable of producing enough electricity for over 200,000 homes – equivalent to around two thirds of the homes in Lincolnshire.

Centrica Energy’s Managing Director Mark Hanafin said: “Today is a very important day for Centrica and for our joint venture partners, marking the culmination of ten years’ hard work, determination, and perseverance by the men and women who’ve made Lincs happen.

“The support we’ve had from the people of Grimsby has been phenomenal. My hope is that the offshore wind industry will continue to bring important jobs to this important town, and that projects like this will give confidence to companies that there is a thriving renewables industry in the UK in which to invest.”

The Lincs wind farm is the latest project to be supported by government, after Prime Minister David Cameron officially opened the ‘world’s largest offshore wind farm’, the London Array, earlier this month and Davey granted planning permission to RWE to the Triton Knoll wind farm, off the Lincolnshire and Norfolk coast.

Read more about Centrica’s Lincs wind farm.