The Industrial Strategy’s underwater missed opportunity

 

 

The underwater industry is of national strategic importance and investment in this industrial sub-sector should be prioritised to make sure the UK is well-placed to unlock the emerging floating offshore wind opportunity, valued at £270 billion domestically, with a serviceable export market of £1 trillion.  

This was the main thrust of GUH’s ask of the UK Government in its industrial strategy consultation.  

The strategy, finally published yesterday, acknowledges the importance of clean energy and advanced manufacturing, which are essential to growing the UK economy and building a low-carbon future.  

However, it falls short of recognising the subsea underwater industry as a strategic growth sub-sector and addressing its specific needs which are critical to delivering floating offshore wind at scale. 

This strategy claims to make “positive choices” and identify “frontier Clean Energy Industries” which have the greatest growth potential. Not only does the underwater industry have clear and significant growth potential it also has real competitive advantage – a supply chain with over fifty years’ offshore experience, whose technology and expertise are sought-after globally and which leads the way in dynamic undersea cables, moorings and anchoring systems. We excel in the manufacture and assembly of the myriad of components for the complex systems required in floating offshore wind and in overcoming the challenges of installation, operation and maintenance in hostile conditions and deepwater.  

So, while we may have been somewhat snubbed, the specific action plans in the strategy were urgently needed to align stakeholders, accelerate progress, and give confidence to industry and investors.  

But there is still a lack of clarity around how they will improve project timelines, deliver consenting reform, infrastructure investment and support for next-generation technologies such as dynamic cables, anchoring systems and remote operations. 

The UK holds a strong position, with the world’s largest floating offshore wind project pipeline but risks losing its lead due to fragmented strategy, slow permitting, and lack of coordinated action across government departments.  

We therefore warmly welcome the acknowledgement that the success of the Industrial Strategy “calls for a whole-of-government effort”. 

GUH made a clear and compelling case, setting out what the underwater industry needed to take advantage of the “unprecedented” opportunity presented by floating offshore wind and we’re generally pleased that government has listened and responded. These included: 

The industrial strategy promises to provide a clear mission to drive investment certainty with long-term deployment plans for key technologies and updating regulations to support growth.  

A clear pipeline of projects, with streamlined and better resourced consenting, is needed to encourage the investment that will allow the supply chain to adapt and scale up. The underwater industry stands ready to help the UK meet its clean energy ambitions and to maximise value to the UK from doing so but needs the confidence to know when and where to invest. 

The strategy commits to removing blockers in the planning system and speeding up the consent process. Bringing projects forward more quickly will deliver visibility and certainty but it’s unclear how this will be achieved.  

£2.8 billion R&D investment in advanced manufacturing and £86billion to boost innovation across all sectors have been allocated in the strategy.  

Specific innovation funding is required to develop cables and electrical systems, foundations and anchoring systems along with next-generation installation, operation and maintenance methods using AI and machine learning-based predictive maintenance, the development and adoption of unmanned and remote solutions, data collection for consenting, remote operation and maintenance surveys and protection against cyber and physical attack.  

The strategy promises significant investment in clean energy supply chains, helping to unlock opportunities, diversify and build up manufacturing capacity. 

It will be interesting to see how much of this funding will go to the underwater supply chain and how companies can access it so that we can add capacity to our capability to meet the demand that will arise from the scale of offshore wind projects.  

Investment in port infrastructure is crucial for floating offshore wind, which requires large, deep-water ports. The UK currently has very few ports which can support manufacturing of cables and construction assembly and integration of floating offshore wind.  

We wanted to see significant upgrades to and reinforcements for the grid to accept the dramatic increase in energy from offshore renewables wind and generate revenues for investors.  

Overall, the strategy takes on board these key asks with key themes of driving investment certainty, providing catalytic public investment to support jobs, innovation and growth, breaking down barriers to investment and ensuring we have the skilled workforce required.  

It’s refreshing to hear government reinforce that its role is to create the conditions for growth and let business get on with driving that growth and productivity. This should lead to less intervention and regulation and more targeted support.   

As with any government intervention, the devil will be in the detail and GUH is eagerly waiting to find out how we can align with the mechanisms for support outlined and how we can continue to push the competitive advantage we have in our underwater industry.