The offshore wind market is growing rapidly. Therefore, the demand for equipment and services to support its growth is sure to rise with it. Together, the UK and Germany, account for over two-thirds of the total offshore wind power installed worldwide, and the UK has an established track record in exporting physical manufactured products. Does this small island have a golden opportunity to be the world’s supplier of choice?
The offshore wind market is growing rapidly. Therefore, the demand for equipment and services to support its growth is sure to rise with it. Together, the UK and Germany, account for over two-thirds of the total offshore wind power installed worldwide, and the UK has an established track record in exporting physical manufactured products. Does this small island have a golden opportunity to be the world’s supplier of choice?
This will depend on the UK’s ability to invest in its workforce and innovation, and on the extent to which the industry can pursue a culture of collaboration. These factors will be vital if UK firms are to support and make the best of local workforce and their supply chains around the world.
A solid foundation
The UK is renowned globally as a manufacturing and knowledge base for the offshore energy industry, thanks to the North Sea. And it has the engineering talent to go with it.
Alongside this comes a manufacturing capability and infrastructure, geared towards the offshore sector that can be transferred.
For example, at JDR, we first entered the offshore wind market by working on the 2005 Beatrice demonstrator project. We used existing technology to supply the array cables for the project, which connected two wind turbines back to the Beatrice oil platform. The technology, expertise, factory and supply chain were all already in place.
As an island nation with a shallow continental shelf that extends far offshore, the UK also enjoys a unique geographic advantage. And with some of the windiest conditions in Europe, it’s extremely beneficial to use fixed-base offshore wind turbines.
Coupled with the historically robust subsidy support for the sector deployed by the UK Government, the UK seized opportunity to take the lead on offshore wind.
