This week, I attended the Floating Offshore Wind Conference in Aberdeen, where I had the privilege of presenting the findings of the Floating Offshore Wind Cost Reduction Pathways report. The report was released to the public earlier that morning and featured in the Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons later that afternoon. Additionally, I was delighted to have the opportunity to hear directly from the industry about their challenges, opportunities and priorities.

In this blog, I’ll share my takeaways from the conference, focusing on the main themes that emerged during discussions and exploring how we can overcome these challenges to unlock the immense opportunity of floating offshore wind in the UK.

 

Grid Connection Delays: A Bottleneck for Growth

One of the biggest frustrations for developers is the delay in securing grid connections. When discussing a ScotWind project, the developer flagged that the grid connection date they have been assigned is beyond the horizon of their project milestones, this project is delivering at a pace the grid cannot match. The situation is complicated further by their grid connection being linked to a neighbouring wind farm that is not moving at the same pace. Whilst a resolution may be found for this isolated case, the bottleneck highlights a broader issue. If we are serious about scaling FOW, we need the infrastructure to match. There’s a real need for streamlined grid connection processes that align with project timelines.

 

Investment in Ports and Infrastructure: The Foundation of Future Deployment

In speaking with representatives of a major port in the North East of Scotland, it became clear that investment in infrastructure is another key issue. This port is looking to expand to meet future demand, but it will need a mix of public and private funding to make it happen. They highlighted project pipeline uncertainty as a critical barrier to investment and stressed that Contracts for Difference (CfD) is the primary vehicle for driving investment in floating wind and that extending schemes like the Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOMIS) will be essential to unlocking capital.

The takeaway here is that ports are essential to the FOW industry. Without modern, expanded ports capable of handling large-scale projects, we won’t have the capacity to assemble and manufacture the massive turbines needed for floating wind. So, making these investments now is a crucial step toward ensuring we can deploy FOW at scale.

 

CfD Reform: Adapting to a Changing Industry

Speaking of CfDs, there was a near unanimity from those I spoke with emphasising the need for reform. The current CfD process works well for more mature technologies like fixed-bottom, but floating wind is at a very different stage. Developers pointed out that the timeline for CfD rounds doesn’t align with when projects are ready to bid. They also highlighted that for floating wind to thrive, the CfD process needs to evolve to support both demonstration and commercial-scale projects.

The consensus is clear; we need to adjust the CfD framework to better reflect the unique needs of floating wind, especially as it moves from early-stage demonstrators to commercial-scale projects. In the short term, this means finding a solution to support those demonstration projects that were unsuccessful in Allocation Round 6 (AR6). Long-term, we need to think about how to make the CfD process, and what it offers, more flexible so it can match the fast-evolving nature of the sector.

 

The Importance of Demonstration Projects: Paving the Way for Cost Reductions

When it comes to reducing costs, demonstration projects are key. In my presentation, I emphasised that deployment is critical. Demonstration projects help to reduce risk and drive learning, making future large-scale deployments taking FID in the early 2030s up to 30% cheaper.

Developers echoed this sentiment. In particular, Equinor’s Hywind Scotland project has shown how critical these early deployments are for improving technology and learning from experience. But to keep the momentum going, we need to secure more funding and policy support to get new demonstration projects off the ground.

 

The Big Question: Do We Need Floating Offshore Wind?

This was a question I was asked during my presentation, and the answer is a resounding yes. Fixed-bottom offshore wind has been a transformative advancement in the energy sector in recent years and will continue to be a stalwart in the journey towards Net Zero, but the reality is that we will run out of shallow waters suitable for fixed-bottom technology. If we want to meet the UK’s renewable energy targets, floating wind is an essential part of a diverse energy mix. It allows us to tap into deeper waters and access wind resources that fixed-bottom sites simply can’t reach.

 

Collaboration: The Key to Unlocking Floating Winds Potential

Perhaps the most important theme that came through in all of my conversations was the need for collaboration. Whether it’s securing grid connections, reforming CfD, driving innovation or investing in port infrastructure, none of these can be done in isolation. Industry, academia and government need to work together to make floating wind a reality.

Here at Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, we’re playing our part by providing dedicated test and demonstration sites that help to de-risk new technologies and accelerate innovation.

In conclusion, floating offshore wind represents a massive opportunity for the UK, both in terms of energy generation and economic growth. But to fully realise this potential, we need to address some key challenges: infrastructure investment, CfD reform, grid connections and consenting. If we can get this right, floating wind has massive potential.

 

There is a lot to be excited about, but we need to act now. The future of floating offshore wind is bright – let’s work together to make it happen.