The Crown Estate and the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult have today published an updated and extended version of the popular ‘A Guide to an Offshore Wind Farm’, to help a range of stakeholders and potential new market entrants understand how an offshore wind farm is built, operated and maintained.
The Guide helps companies develop a greater understanding of the components and processes involved in the development of offshore wind farms, supporting supply chain development and highlighting ways in which businesses can seize opportunities from the growing, global offshore wind sector, expected to be worth an estimated £30 billion per annum by 2030.
First published in 2010 and now updated to cover offshore wind farms that will be built out to 2025, the Guide, produced by BVG Associates on behalf of The Crown Estate and ORE Catapult, has been updated to include a focus on operations, maintenance, service activities, decommissioning, floating wind and emerging technologies in data, digital and robotics and autonomous systems.
Will Apps Head of Energy Development at The Crown Estate commented:
“We are delighted to be able to publish this revised version of the Guide to an Offshore Wind Farm that served as one of the most popular documents downloaded on The Crown Estate website. The pace of innovation in the wind industry has been rapid over the past decade; and opportunities to enter the market are increasing. This guide can be useful to those looking to enter the market.”
Chris Hill, ORE Catapult’s Operational Performance Director, said: “In the UK, a strong, robust supply chain is vital if the sector is to achieve ambitious plans to more than triple installed capacity by 2030, create 27,000 skilled jobs and increase export value five-fold. And with a UK market expected to be worth £4.9 billion annually by 2030, and £30 billion globally, the development of offshore wind farms represents a huge business opportunity to reap the rewards domestically and in new global export markets, creating GVA and high value jobs across the country.”
Julian Brown, Vice President and UK Country Manager – MHI Vestas Offshore Wind added:
“The future of offshore wind depends on a healthy, evolving supply chain, top to bottom. We are at the same time maturing and innovating, so we must stay aligned as industrial partners. The Guide to an Offshore Wind farm is essential reading as it provides everyone the blueprint for understanding the offshore wind business. This will be distributed widely throughout our company and to all of our supply chain partners.”
The Guide complements work ongoing on behalf of the Offshore Wind Industry Council by former McLaren Group CEO Martin Whitmarsh. Whitmarsh is conducting a review of the UK supply chain to identify opportunities for UK firms to win a greater share of the growing domestic and global offshore wind markets.
You can download Guide to an Offshore Wind Farm from The Crown Estate website here.
