Floating Energy Allyance Response to Government Commitment to Floating Wind

Floating Energy Allyance Responds to Government Commitment to Floating Wind

Floating Energy Allyance has welcomed the UK Government’s overall commitment to support the commercialisation of floating offshore wind.

Ministers announced in a major consultation that floating offshore wind would be defined in law and no longer be in direct competition with fixed offshore wind in future Contract for Difference allocation rounds.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has also set out its intention to seek stronger commitments from offshore wind developers to the UK supply chain, and stronger enforcement measures which could see projects lose their Contract for Difference if they fail to implement their supply chain plan commitments.

Responding to the announcements, Gordon MacDougall of the Floating Energy Allyance SteerCo said:

“We believe that floating wind can make a significant contribution to achieving our net zero climate targets, and the changes to CfD ‘pots’ announced by the UK Government are essential to enabling the growth and commercialisation of the technology in the UK.

“We are also supportive of the government’s overall ambition to see a greater share of capital spend going to the UK supply chain.  Given our focus on local manufacture of foundations and commitment to sourcing as much of our project from Scotland and the UK as possible, we are ready to contribute to the outcomes that ministers want to achieve.

“However, we are disappointed at some of the proposed contract terms for floating projects and will be setting out the need for changes to the proposals if ministers are to maximise investment in floating offshore wind and the technology’s contribution to job creation, net zero, and affordable energy.”