Opportunities for Plymouth’s businesses to get involved in the next generation of offshore windfarms will be outlined in the city’s second Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) conference.
Plymouth City Council is organising its second conference to give Plymouth businesses an update and insight into the latest Floating Offshore Wind developments in the Celtic Sea off the coast of Devon and Cornwall.
The event takes place at The Duke of Cornwall Hotel on Thursday 12 September and is designed to encourage businesses to be part of a growing UK success story – it has the second largest offshore wind market in the world with more than 40 per cent of European offshore wind capacity.
The first three project development areas are currently going through the consenting process which involves Floating Offshore Wind or FLOW developers putting forward a proposal to The Crown Estate, which owns the seabed, outlining how they would deliver the project in the Celtic Sea. Part of this process will require the developers to evidence that they have their supply chains in place and also identify which port facilities they are planning to work with.
The first three floating windfarms will generate up to 4.5GW of electricity – enough to power more than four million homes. The turbines will be some of the largest in the world, with more than 260 spread across three sites, each up to 300 metres high – as tall as the Shard, on a floating platform the size of a football pitch. They will need more than 1,000 anchors to secure the floating turbines to the seabed, with at least 300km of mooring lines and approximately 900km of cables to link the turbines to the electricity network.
Leader of the Council Tudor Evans OBE said: “The ambition and statistics behind these plans are staggering and Plymouth businesses, with all their marine and engineering expertise, would be a perfect fit in this exciting field which will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
“The benefits are huge – supply chain opportunities for manufacturers, thousands of new jobs and skills, money…
“This project has Britain’s Ocean City businesses written all over it. Now is time for our companies to get involved in the conversation. We already have a number of companies involved in this developing area – we think there’s capacity for many more – that’s why we are hosting this event.”
Brian Hitchcock, Legal Director for Foot Anstey who are sponsors for the event added: “It's a pleasure to support the Council in its ambitions for this legacy wind project, it’s a tremendous opportunity for Plymouth, the wider Southwest and Wales.
“Our Energy and Infrastructure team have been involved in the ports, marine and renewables sectors for many years and look forward to its continued partnership with the Council to help develop strategic infrastructure and investment in the city."
The event is free. If you are interested in attending, please email invest@plymouth.gov.uk