In an announcement on 23 September 2022, which formed part of its Mini Budget, the UK Government made it clear that, not only is Floating Offshore Wind an essential technology for achieving long-term energy security for the UK, but it also wants to speed up the way in which planning policy is implemented, to allow FLOW technology to be deployed more rapidly.
The Chancellor said he wants to see the “vast majority” of consented, planning and pre-lease stage offshore wind projects start construction by the end of 2023. All remaining UK Round 3, Round 4, Extension, ScotWind, INTOG, Floating Wind Commercialisation Projects and Celtic Sea projects are to be “accelerated” under the UK Government’s growth plan.
“These projects may benefit from acceleration through planning reform, regulatory reform, improved processes or other options to speed up their development and construction, including through development consent processes,” the document states.
Commenting on this move, Rob Ferris, MD of Feritech Global, said:
“We fully support this approach and the sense of urgency that it indicates regarding the commercialisation of Floating Offshore Wind in the UK.
“We are very fortunate in the UK that we have access to some of the best wind resources in Europe. Wind is a plentiful, renewable energy resource. FLOW technology has developed at a rapid pace over recent years and has now proved its potential. The sooner we start to reap the full commercial benefits of FLOW technology, the better.”
This year, Feritech Global opened a £3m purpose-built innovation centre in Cornwall. At its launch, Feritech stated that it wanted to use its innovation skills to help meet the engineering challenges of establishing the Floating Offshore Wind industry in the Celtic Sea.
The Feritech Innovation Centre is the most advanced facility of its kind in South West England. It offers a host of services under one roof. These include product design, precision machining, large scale fabrication, hydraulics, embedded software, electronics and 3D printing.
Rob Ferris adds:
“The FLOW sector is now moving rapidly to industrialisation and then on to cost reduction. We can design solutions to improve the efficiency of operations in construction of FLOW sites and help in other areas such as seabed cabling surveys. Our advanced manufacturing facility is perfectly equipped for the production of new components, and we can provide expert help with electronics and sensor equipment. At Feritech Global, we are determined to play our full part in making FLOW a huge success for the UK economy.”