Maritime UK has launched its Offshore Wind Plan at the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s Operations & Maintenance Centre of Excellence in Grimsby, with the support of Associated British Ports.
The Offshore Wind Plan makes a series of recommendations for how the maritime sector, the offshore wind sector, and governments can work together to what Maritime UK described as “maximum economic benefit from the growth of offshore wind across the maritime supply chain in sectors like ports, shipbuilding, crewing and professional services”.
The Plan identifies opportunities such as building vessels in the UK to support developments, and further growing UK ports as centres for manufacturing and assembly for offshore developments.
The launch of the Offshore Wind Plan is in partnership with Renewable UK, and aims to create a new partnership between the Maritime and Renewable sectors.
The launch event took place at ORE Catapult’s Operations & Maintenance Centre of Excellence in Grimsby. ORE Catapult has estimated that 149 Surface Operation Vessels (SOVs) will be needed to serve the growing number of offshore wind developments in Europe by 2030, and up to 309 by 2050.
Maritime UK Chair Robin Mortimer said that “the maritime sector already plays a key role in our collective efforts to deliver a cleaner and more sustainable future by the middle of this century. Maritime UK’s Offshore Wind Plan sets out how delivering energy security through growing offshore wind can drive economic growth and job creation across the country through the maritime supply chain”.