Wind industry calls for ring-fenced funding for floating turbines

The government has been urged to provide ring-fenced funding for innovative technologies bidding in Contracts for Difference auctions to enable the delivery of 2GW of floating wind capacity by the end of the next decade.

In a new report setting out their vision for its future, the industry associations RenewableUK and Scottish Renewables claim that the floating wind sector could support 17,000 jobs by 2050 and increase the UK’s economic output by £36.6 billion, with each pound invested at the early stage returning £15 further down the line.

The report says floating offshore wind could be cost competitive with other generation technologies by as soon as 2030 and calls for potential sites to be made available around the country.

RenewableUK head of policy and regulation Rebecca Williams said: “The renewable energy sector has built its success on delivering innovation; floating wind is a prime example of what we can achieve. Our vision is to do much more at scale, securing further cost reduction and much-needed new capacity.

“As we build even further out to sea into deeper waters, floating wind will unlock new areas for us to make use of our state-of-the-art technology.”

Morag Watson, director of policy at Scottish Renewables, said: “Scotland’s offshore energy experience and our deep water wind resource means we’re already a world leader in floating wind – technology which will be necessary to meet our net-zero emissions target”.

He continued: “This publication sets out how government, working with industry, as agreed in the offshore wind sector deal, can identify and deliver joint investments in the infrastructure which will underpin the development of floating wind and its supply chain”.

There are currently two operational floating windfarms in the UK, both located in Scottish waters.

The 30MW Hywind project – the world’s first floating windfarm – consists of five 6MW turbines and was officially opened by Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon in 2017. The developer, Equinor, has since upgraded the windfarm with a 1MW battery storage system dubbed “Batwind”.

A single 2MW turbine has also been installed for the first phase the Kincardine project. The second phase, which is due to be completed next year, will see the windfarm grow to 50MW with the addition of four 9.5MW turbines.