Latest news with #OffshoreWind
The Independent
15-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Offshore wind farms to be allowed to apply for contracts before planning consent
Offshore wind farms will be able to apply for energy contracts while they are still waiting for full planning consent, the Government has announced. The plans are part of a raft of reforms launched by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz) to help the Government reach its ambitious 2030 clean power targets. Energy secretary Ed Miliband said changes to Contracts for Difference (CfD) rules will give developers 'the certainty they need to build in Britain' and invest in more clean energy projects. Auctions for the CfD scheme see developers bid to secure a fixed price contract for what they can charge for the renewable power they generate. This system helps to protect them from market volatility, incentivising investment in new wind and solar farms. Earlier this year, the Government launched a consultation on the flagship CfD scheme, including proposals to remove planning barriers. It has now given the green light to changes to the scheme ahead of the next planned auction process, Allocation Round 7 (AR7), which is due to open in August. Officials have said this will include increasing the length of contracts from 15 years to 20 years for offshore wind, onshore wind and solar projects. It said this is intended to spread out the costs of energy projects over a longer period and potentially reduce costs for consumers, while also improving investors confidence. Changes will also include allowing offshore wind projects to apply for a contract while awaiting full planning consent, in a bid to reduce completion times. The department will also change how budgets are set and published to allow the energy secretary to view developer bids before setting his final budget. Mr Miliband said: 'We need to go further and faster to make Britain a clean energy superpower, end our reliance on volatile global gas prices and make working people better off with homegrown power we control. 'These reforms will give developers the certainty they need to build in Britain, helping deliver more clean power projects and supporting thousands of jobs – all part of the mission to bring bills down for good through our plan for change.'
Business News Wales
01-07-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
Floating Offshore Wind Training Academy Takes Major Step Forward
NPTC Group of Colleges has taken a significant step towards establishing the UK's leading Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) Training Academy with the appointment of Celtic Sea Power to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study. The milestone follows the college's successful bid for funding through the initial round of The Crown Estate's Supply Chain Accelerator, enabling in-depth research into the current landscape of FLOW training. The study will assess existing training provisions, identify potential gaps, and determine the type of facilities needed, their ideal location, and associated costs. CEO of NPTC Group of Colleges, Mark Dacey, described it as a 'transformative moment' and emphasised the Academy's vital role in supporting communities and industries. He said: 'This initiative is a major step forward in ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of the renewable energy transition, with the right skills and infrastructure in place to support the growth of the offshore wind industry. The opportunities for our communities and stakeholders are endless and NPTC Group of Colleges is committed to supporting green skills and job growth for Wales in the green industrial revolution as well as the creation of a robust supply chain and a skilled workforce equipped for the challenges of the FLOW sector.' Steve Jermy, CEO of Celtic Sea Power, said: 'Floating offshore wind represents a generational opportunity to create high-quality skilled employment across the Celtic Sea region. At Celtic Sea Power, we are extremely excited to be leading this important project at such a crucial time for the sector, with 4.5GW of capacity due to be awarded this year. NPTC Group already trains highly skilled and ambitious people for Welsh industry, and by winning funding from The Crown Estate have demonstrated their ambition to take a leading role in delivering FLOW skills to the region. We are thus excited to work with them, and local and regional stakeholders, to deliver a comprehensive feasibility study into a future-facing FLOW Training Academy for Neath Port Talbot in what will be a pivotal opportunity to unlock investment and talent long into the future.' Rebecca Williams, Director of Devolved Nations at The Crown Estate, said: 'The Celtic Sea has the opportunity to play an integral role in supporting the UK's clean energy transition by hosting three new floating offshore wind farms, capable of generating enough renewable energy to power more than four million homes. Projects such as NPTC's Training Academy which focus on the workforce needed to deliver and maintain this vital infrastructure will ensure communities in Wales are in a strong position to take advantage of the economic benefits that the deployment of offshore wind off our coasts brings.'
The Independent
30-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Monarchy set to receive £132m for second year in a row in 2026-27
The monarchy is set to receive £132 million in funding in 2026-27 for the second year in a row. Record offshore wind farm profits mean the Crown Estate net profits for the last financial year have again hit £1.1 billion. The Sovereign Grant, which pays for the royal family's official duties and the upkeep of royal palaces, is met from public funds in exchange for the King's surrender of the revenue from the Crown Estate, two years in arrears. The monarchy is already receiving an increase in the current 2025-26 financial year, with around £132 million in Sovereign Grant funding – £45.7 million more than the £86.3 million in 2024-25, thanks to £1.1 billion Crown Estate profits in 2023-24. This puts the total extra over the next two years (2025-26 and 2026-27) at £91.4 million. But Crown Estate profits are set to drop back sharply in the future as the short-term boost from offshore wind farms fades. The 'temporary uplift' to the Sovereign Grant will be used to help fund the remaining £100 million of the £369 million refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, but also for an enhanced programme of works at other occupied royal palaces after the Covid pandemic halted progress. James Chalmers, the King's new Keeper of the Privy Purse, said: 'The temporary uplift in the grant will also help repay the shortfalls from the years during which the Sovereign Grant remained fixed at £86 million, and to finance, among other projects, an enhanced programme of works to protect and preserve heritage buildings across the Occupied Royal Palaces. 'Many of these works fell out of scope of the reservicing programme and had to be paused as a consequence of the Covid impact and budgetary constraints. 'In funding their completion, the Royal Household is able to invest in the protection and preservation of properties held in trust for the nation, while supporting skilled jobs in conservation and traditional crafts across the UK.' The Sovereign funding was reduced from 25% to 12% of the Crown Estate's net profit in 2023, in a review of royal finances by Royal Trustees, to take account of huge profits from offshore wind farm deals. The King asked for the extra profits to be used for the wider public good, but he will still receive more than £90 million extra. Predictions in the 2023 review had set the expected Crown Estate profits in 2023-24 as £1.04 billion and 2024-25 as £1.05 billion. The total Sovereign Grant for 2024/25, relating to Crown Estate profits in 2022/23, remained flat at £86.3 million because of a caveat which means it cannot fall below current levels. The Crown Estate is a multibillion-pound property, land and rights portfolio which includes Regent Street in London's West End and Ascot Racecourse.
Scotsman
26-05-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Scotland's ports and harbours are crucial for our future
Scottish Enterprise is committed to investing in these crucial gateways to the world, writes Victoria Carmichael Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The importance of connections between countries has become even more obvious in recent months with lots of talk about tariffs and trade agreements. Scotland's ports and harbours are, in the most tangible sense, our gateway to the rest of the world, and their gateway to everything that Scotland has to offer. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Not only in what we produce within our shores, but also in how our location and natural resources provide assets that can benefit the whole world. Forth Ports is investing at its facility in Leith, as viewed from the Port of Leith Distillery (Picture: Lisa Ferguson) Scotland's location as the windbreak of Europe has handed us a perfectly-placed opportunity to be a world-leader in low carbon energy. That's why Scottish Enterprise has a mission focused on accelerating the energy transition, to ensure our business community is equipped to take full advantage. Scotland's coast is home to more than 200 ports and harbours, which have a range of public and private operators. A report from 2023 found that our ports contribute an estimated £1.5 bn GVA to the local economy. They are essential hubs in Scottish supply chains, with exports accounting for 48 per cent of the total freight moved through major Scottish ports in 2021. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad They keep Scotland connected, with a total of 6.3 million passengers and 2.6 million vehicles carried on Scottish ferry routes in 2021. Victoria Carmichael, Director Property, Growth Infrastructure & Major Projects, Scottish Enterprise And ports directly employed 18,600 people in Scotland in 2019 and supported a total of 49,202 jobs across Scotland. These ports and harbours are crucial to our future as a trading nation, a green energy powerhouse and as hubs for increased innovation and productivity. Scottish Enterprise is currently committed to £7.5 million in support of an overall spend of £15m on design and consent studies to develop ports and associated infrastructure to unlock further, critical investment. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Approved projects include Hunterston, Montrose, Peterhead Bay, and TS FLOW – representing potential investment of around £860m. We have recently supported Port of Montrose to acquire new land in the town to enable more port-related industry to take advantage of Montrose's hub potential for Offshore Wind (OW) and build on its role as Europe's leading chain and anchor port. Ports in Scotland are already investing to capture these new opportunities. Forth Ports has invested over £100m in new quayside and land at both Dundee and Leith (between them 100hectares of renewed space) for OW opportunities and is considering more investment at Burntisland to capitalise on the role that the Firths of Forth and Tay are playing for the OW sector. Like Forth Ports on the east, in the west of Scotland Peel Ports have made significant investment in craneage at Port of Greenock, redeveloped their Glasgow port at King George V dock to create more space for port users and recently obtained consents to enable investment at Hunterston to provide 35 hectares of space with quayside for OW being developed on the west coast and off Ireland. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fraserburgh is already supporting the energy transition through the Moray East operations and maintenance base for the offshore wind sector. And Ayr and Troon play a vital role for onshore wind, as well as our timber industry. Further examples of recent major investment including Aberdeen South Harbour (£420m) completed in 2023 and the work happening on the future of Grangemouth will be truly transformational for Scotland's economy. It's crucial that these assets are future-proofed. Working with international engineering consultancy Royal HaskoningDHV, Scottish Enterprise convened a working group comprising many of the owners and operators of Scotland's ports and harbours to assess and benchmark their digital maturity. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The results of that exercise, published in our 'The Digital Voyage for Ports in Scotland' report, are being used to identify capital investment projects in advanced technologies that will make the country's ports and harbours among the most digitally competitive in the world, helping them increase productivity and build resilience. This kind of continued assessment, innovation and investment is vital to ensuring our ports and harbours continue to provide the future gateways from Scotland to the world, and from the world to Scotland. We Back Ambition.
Business News Wales
21-05-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
Next-Generation Floating Wind Installation Vessel Concept Revealed
Image Credit: Morek Engineering. A consortium led by Morek Engineering has unveiled its innovative design concept for a new vessel class for the Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) market, having completed the first feasibility stage. Consortium partners include naval architects Solis Marine Engineering, innovation specialists Tope Ocean, marine operations specialists First Marine Solutions and Celtic Sea Power. Bob Colclough of Morek Engineering said: 'We assembled a team with deep market insight and offshore expertise, then overlaid that with a clear vision for low-emission fuel systems. Our goal wasn't simply to retrofit an existing design with greener propulsion, but to pinpoint where we could deliver the greatest carbon reductions in the construction of future floating wind farms. We expect this to be attractive to a wide range of stakeholders in the floating offshore wind industry.' Image Credit: Morek Engineering. The project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 4 (CMDC4), funded by the UK Department for Transport and delivered by Innovate UK. CMDC4 is part of the Department's UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions programme, a £206m initiative focused on developing the technology necessary to decarbonise the UK domestic maritime sector. The Future FLOW Installation Vessel (FFIV) design incorporates low-carbon fuels providing fuel efficiency advantages, a hydrodynamically optimised hull and expanded mooring capacity. These innovations translate into significant time and cost savings compared to current vessels in operation. The FFIV concept focuses on a section of the floating wind installation process that is yet to be optimised. It will work with any of the three main anchor types for floating wind turbines being considered by the industry: drag embedment anchors, which require installation by high bollard pull anchor handling vessels, suction piles and driven piles, which require large subsea cranes to install them into the seabed. In each case, the FFIV meets the requirements of the next phase by installing the mooring lines onto the installed anchors, enabling quick connection to floating foundations towed to the offshore site. 'We've reimagined the mooring installation process, designing a vessel focused on these new requirements', adds Simon Hindley of Solis Marine Engineering. 'By combining an energy-efficient hull form with a low-emission powertrain, we can tackle high-duty construction tasks without relying on traditional, fossil fuel-powered vessels, improving the overall efficiency of the offshore construction activities.' The FFIV has been designed to maximise mooring line capacity whilst minimising running costs. The selection of azimuth thrusters and reduced resistance to station-keeping and dynamic positioning efficiency is partnered with the alternative fuel choice of methanol. To maximise mooring line capacity, the FFIV has a large below-deck cable tank for synthetic mooring ropes as well as large chain lockers to hold the kilometres of chain expected for the floating wind industry. Ian Godfrey of Tope Ocean said: 'At present, the global fleet falls far short of what is required for serialised installation of floating turbines and their infrastructure. This innovative concept is the kind of advanced technology innovation the Floating Offshore Wind sector needs to realise the global pipeline of projects and the clean energy they can deliver.' Having showcased the concept to selected industry experts at a Society of Maritime Industries event in London this month, the consortium is now advancing toward the next design stage. This will focus on the equipment for handling large quantities of synthetic ropes, weather-limit analyses, and regulatory and design challenges faced by methanol propulsion systems. The target is to secure an Approval in Principle by a major ship classification society by December 2025.
