Floating offshore wind schemes to receive share of £31m Government funding

Floating offshore wind projects are to receive a share of £31 million Government funding to help drive deployment of the clean technology.

Some 11 successful projects are receiving a share of the money which is matched by more than £30 million from industry, to boost the sector by £60 million, the Business Department (Beis) said.

The funding, of up to £10 million per project, aims to support research and development of technology for floating offshore wind, and bring down the costs of building and deploying the renewable power source more quickly.

The Government said that with global gas prices at record highs, it wanted to strengthen energy security in the UK – already home to the world’s largest deployment of offshore wind – by deploying more home-grown renewables to reduce dependency on volatile fossil fuels.

With floating offshore wind, turbines are installed on platforms harnessed to the seabed with cables or anchors. This allows them to be sited further offshore in deeper water to make the most of available wind.

Among the projects to secure funding – receiving £9.6 million – is a scheme with bases in Edinburgh, Belfast, London and Doncaster, developing and demonstrating new technologies for mooring turbines, cable protection, floating base design and a digital monitoring system.

Another winning project, based in Cambridge, Feltham, Aberdeen and Blyth, is receiving £10 million for compact floating turbine foundation and anchors that is hoped will enable a 2 megawatt (MW), or larger, turbine to be demonstrated in UK waters.

And more than £3.4 million will go to a Swansea-based project to develop a floating wind turbine foundation with a small footprint that also generates power from wave energy.

Energy Minister Greg Hands said:  “We are already a world leader in offshore wind and floating technology is key to unlocking the full potential of the seas around Britain.

“These innovative projects will help us expand renewable energy further and faster across the UK and help to reduce our exposure volatile global gas prices.”