The industry body is working to ensure the UK’s underwater supply chain captures the lion’s share of a market valued at over £50 billion but is warning against underestimating the sheer scale of infrastructure and groundwork required.
Underwater moorings and cables systems are integral to delivering floating offshore wind and could generate billions of pounds worth of business for the UK’s manufacturing, installation, inspection, maintenance and repair sectors over the next 25 years.
For the 40 GW of floating wind projects in the pipeline, over 9,000 anchors, 9,000 lengths of chain and 4,000 kilometres of rope along with 9,000 buoyancy units will be required.
“Those requirements are likely to increase several fold in the not too distant future” said Neil Gordon, chief executive of Global Underwater Hub. “Research and development in turbines continues to push for larger MW output and that creates a knock-on effect on all other components which will also have to increase in size. Our supply chain’s track record in the design, manufacture and installation of anchor, chain and moorings for rigs and floating production vessels in oil and gas and large-scale aquaculture mooring puts us in pole position. But, even taking that potential to transition into floating offshore wind into account, the size of the market shift is enormous. We cannot underestimate the sheer scale of what is required and the UK supply chain must look at how it will rapidly increase capacity to meet demand. By demonstrating we have the expertise and capacity to deliver novel solutions and best practice in the art of mooring and anchoring systems, the UK underwater supply chain can set a global operational benchmark with a genuine international competitive advantage.”
To help the supply chain gear up to meet demand and capitalise on the opportunity, Global Underwater Hub will host its first Offshore Mooring and Anchoring Systems Conference and Workshop in Newcastle on 6 March.
The event will bring together industry stakeholders from all elements of the life cycle of mooring and anchoring systems. Presentations from Bridon Bekaert, Delmar, DOF, First Marine Solutions, Flotation Energy, Global Maritime, Intermoor, Ossian, PGS Energy and Schottel Marine Technologies will cover the lifespan of moorings and anchor systems from developer requirements, survey and design considerations through to manufacturing, installation, inspection, repair and maintenance as well as decommissioning.
The conference will be followed by a workshop which will explore principal areas of opportunity and challenge. The outcomes will be incorporated into a post-event report which will be used to demonstrate the UK’s capability to service domestic and global floating offshore wind projects and help attract investment to increase capacity.
The mooring and anchors event is part of an ongoing strategic offshore floating wind programme being delivered by GUH which looks at critical areas of opportunity and challenges within the underwater engineering space.
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