MPs hail Welsh floating offshore wind bonanza

Floating offshore wind power offers the “single biggest investment opportunity” for Wales in decades, according to a cross-party group of MPs.

Despite identifying the opportunity, the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee warned government that greater certainty must be given to the fledgling sector.

The findings are part of a report published on Wednesday (8 March) by the committee, which probes the opportunities and challenges thrown up by the identification of the Celtic Sea as the UK’s key area for the rollout of floating offshore wind power.

The Crown Estate is running leasing rounds for up to 4GW by 2035 of floating offshore wind generation in the sea, which lies between south Wales and southwest England, with scope for a further 20GW in the future.

High average wind speeds have led to the sea being identified by the UK government for the first major rollout of floating turbines, which unlike the more common fixed bottom offshore devices can be located in deeper waters.

The committee says Celtic Sea floating offshore wind represents “perhaps the single biggest investment opportunity for Wales in decades with the potential to create thousands of high-quality, long-term jobs”.

This opportunity will be amplified if south Wales is able to gain first-mover advantage over other markets, the committee’s report adds.

In order to enable the region to capitalise, the committee recommends that the UK government and Crown Estate set longer-term targets at the earliest opportunity.

These include a clear roadmap for delivery for National Grid ESO’s planning of network upgrades across south Wales.

In addition, the potential to decarbonise south Wales’ industry using green hydrogen produced from Celtic Sea electricity should one of the factors considered when planning the region’s grid infrastructure.

The report highlights the distinct opportunities to decarbonise the region’s heavy industry, which arise from connecting the Celtic Sea’s floating offshore wind farms into Wales.

The most likely south Wales grid connection point for these wind farms would be coastal Pembrokeshire, close to the location of Tata’s Port Talbot steel plant, which is the UK’s biggest but faces huge decarbonisation challenges.

The report says the ESO has stated that it will provide proposals on how to develop the region’s network when more detail is known on the capacity and location of the Celtic Sea’s future floating offshore wind projects.

The UK government should also provide clarity on where leadership for the floating offshore wind strategy lies and take steps to ensure Wales’ consenting bodies are adequately staffed and resourced in order to cope with the increased workload the new projects will bring.

Stephen Crabb MP, chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee, said: “New floating offshore wind technology will open up the deep waters of the Celtic Sea to the green energy revolution. Larger turbines sited farther offshore than traditional turbines will harness the stronger winds to deliver greater power generation.

“Floating offshore wind represents a once-in-a-generation industrial opportunity for Wales – we cannot afford to let this pass us by.”