A newly-announced Scottish ports alliance for offshore wind will “unashamedly” maximise the domestic supply chain, a top renewables boss has said.
SOWPA (Scottish Offshore Wind Ports Alliance) was unveiled on Wednesday at All-Energy in Glasgow, a collaboration of 13 Scottish ports to fast-track opportunities across manufacturing and fabrication, through to marshalling, assembly, and operations & maintenance.
It comes as a huge 30GW of ScotWind-related offshore capacity is due to be installed over the next decade, amid vast pressure on the supply chain.
© Supplied by DCT/ Eve ConroyMeanwhile international efforts are ramping up on floating offshore wind in markets including Scandinavia, France, Spain and Ireland.
Iain Sinclair, executive director of Global Energy Group and vice chair of Scottish Renewables said the move will work to put the domestic supply chain first.
He highlighted there is no commercially-sensitive information being shared but the initiative brings forward the “core competencies” and phasing in the right strategic needs and wants to support developers and the supply chain.
Speaking to Energy Voice Out Loud from the conference show floor, he said: “We talk about collaboration, we talk about knowledge sharing, we talk about working across the sector. It is, however, extremely important we make sure, unashamedly, we maximise the benefit domestically first and foremost.
“I think once we’ve done that and we understand what each port and each part of the supply chain, the role it has to play, I think then we can start looking over the horizon and exporting the knowledge and expertise. In essence, we’ve got the technical capability and it’s pulling it all together.”
See the full video above.
Recommended for you
