Spread the word

Mike Farish discusses a new initiative by the Crown Estate that is hoping to convince UK companies of the potential of offshore wind

From late January through to the middle of March UK industry will be given a wake-up call to alert it to a huge potential market that is set to spring up in places where at the moment there are just waves and - most importantly - winds.

Starting in Aberdeen on 28 January and then moving through a sequence of other locations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - with the conclusion in Belfast on 16 March - a total of twelve seminars will attempt to convince UK companies to the opportunities presented by the future growth of the offshore wind power industry, most obviously through the Round 3 development initiative, in the waters around the UK's coast.

Roots
Specifically the seminars will seek to get across the message that this market will not just be one for the 'big' players such as the turbine manufacturers and operators. Instead its sheer size - estimated at as much as £100 billion - will mean that it will have to have deep roots that reach down to numerous other companies in order to ensure it has all the equipment and technologies it requires. In short it will need a supply chain.

The seminars will be organised through a combination of the UK central and devolved governments and The Crown Estate, the agency responsible for managing publicly-owned land around the UK with a value of some £6 billion - including around half the foreshore and the seabed out to the territorial limit of twelve nautical miles. Moreover the participation of The Crown Estate in the enterprise is no one-off factor. Instead it signals the organisation's commitment to playing an active role in ensuring that UK industry gets a major portion of all the business that will be generated by the establishment of a significant UK offshore wind sector.

Initiative
Someone who is right at the centre of the organisation's activities in support of that commitment is Adrian Fox, supply chain manager for The Crown Estate. Fox, who took up the position, a little over six months ago, says that The Crown Estate's involvement in the initiative marks a distinct change in the nature of its activities. This is, he confirms, the first time the organisation has become involved in an attempt to stimulate commercial activity by private sector companies.

Fox has no doubts that there is a need for such a proactive approach by organisations like The Crown Estate. The reason, he says, is that the scale of the opportunities involved is simply not yet appreciated by UK industry. In consequence if that deficiency is not addressed then far too many UK companies may miss out on what could be the major focus of industrial investment in the UK over the next couple of decades. In support of his contention he says that at present only 10 to 20 per cent of the value of current offshore wind contracts is going to UK-based companies.

Various
The seminars themselves will, Fox stresses, have a business focus. They are not public information events. Their format will involve presentations by various parties, not least the 'zone developers' - lead organisations for the geographical areas around the UK coast involved in Round 3.
How many companies will attend the events is not yet clear, but it seems that a target of some number of hundreds is in mind. Fox again makes the point that the aim is to dig right down and ensure that not just that primary 'Tier 1' suppliers are involved but also the many more potential 'Tier 2' suppliers of sub-systems and componentry. The fundamental message, he states, is that a massive opportunity is opening up for UK companies and if they are to take advantage of it they must first recognise that fact and then understand what they need to do to ensure it does not pass them by.

www.thecrownestate.co.uk

UK DATES OF THE OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY SUPPLY
CHAIN EVENTS

Aberdeen

28 January 2010 (Scottish Enterprise)

Inverness

2 February 2010 (Highlands and Islands Enterprise)

Glasgow

4 February 2010 (Scottish Enterprise)

Pembrokeshire

11 February (Welsh Assembly Government)

Chester-Le-Street

17 February 2010 (One North East)

Gatwick

23 February 2010 (South East England Development Agency and EnviroBusiness)

Loughborough

25 February 2010 (Advantage West Midlands and East Midlands Development Agency)

Doncaster

26 February 2010 (Yorkshire Forward)

Lowestoft

4 March 2010 (East of England Development Agency)

Bristol

9 March 2010 (South West RDA and Regen South West)

Liverpool

11 March 2010 (North West Development Agency and Envirolink Northwest)

Belfast

16 March 2010 (Invest NI)