Plan to triple UK offshore wind manufacturing within a decade

The UK could triple its offshore wind manufacturing capabilities in the next decade and boost its economy by £25bn ($31bn) under a new plan set out by key sector bodies.

The Industrial Growth Plan would require nearly £3bn of funding – with “private finance doing the heavy lifting” – to transform the UK’s offshore wind manufacturing sector, say RenewableUK, the Offshore Wind Industry Council, The Crown Estate and Crown Estate Scotland.

“Britain’s windswept shorelines give us a competitive advantage in the global race for energy,” said energy security secretary Claire Coutinho in an announcement for the plan today (Wednesday).

This includes the “turbine blades and high-voltage cables that we will need to produce cheaper, cleaner, more secure energy.”

The renewables supply chain has become an increasing concern for governments the world over, with the US and EU among those to offer incentives to onshore clean tech manufacturing to, among other things, boost energy security.

A report setting out the new growth plan said that facilities owned by Germany’s Siemens Energy in Hull and Manchester, and another by Danish turbine-making giant Vestas on the Isle of Wight, “exemplify global excellence” in blade and HVDC technologies.

The UK offshore wind industry already employs 32,000 people and each new large offshore wind farm adds £2-3bn to the economy, said RenewableUK.

“Employment is set to rise to over 100,000 by 2030 and investment in new offshore wind projects will create an economic opportunity worth up to £92bn for the UK by 2040.”

The measures set out in the plan would support an additional 10,000 jobs a year, said RenewableUK, while boosting the UK’s economy by £25bn between now and 2035, “if we accelerate offshore wind deployment in line with our net zero targets to 5-6 gigawatts a year.”

“Supply chain constraints in many of the key components needed in offshore wind farms are already starting to be felt in the global market,” it said.

Key technologies it said the UK should prioritise in offshore wind manufacturing are the “design and manufacture of offshore wind blades and turbine towers, foundations, cables and other key components and services for projects here and abroad.”

The plan also stressed the importance of incorporating “automation and AI technologies” in new projects and sets out plans to expand testing facilities for “cutting-edge technology.”

RenewableUK’s chief Dan McGrail said the plan is the “deepest dive ever into the offshore wind supply chain, identifying the highest-value components and services which the UK should focus on to get the biggest economic bang for our buck from future wind farm development.”

“For example, it shows that the UK will need three hundred giant turbine towers every year for offshore wind projects between now and 2030 to deliver government targets.

“The plan charts a clear course for us to ensure that we seize that massive economic opportunity and maximise our opportunities to manufacture those towers here, along with more blades, cables, foundations and a whole range of other products.

“By using this as a blueprint to work closely with all our partners in the sector, we can triple the size of that supply chain, ramp up our offshore wind capacity significantly and secure a huge increase in jobs, all within the next ten years.”

The co-chair of the Offshore Wind Industry Council, Richard Sandford, said the plan will “help build up our world-class supply chain with new facilities in the UK, providing innovative products and highly-prized expertise for projects here and all over the world in an intensely competitive multi-billion pound export market.”

Gus Jaspert, marine managing director at The Crown Estate, said that his organisation is as an “early action” establishing a £50m Supply Chain Accelerator to catalyse early-stage investment, with an initial £10m pilot fund launching this summer.