The Celtic Sea Cluster has launched its new Regional Strategy, outlining how Wales and South West England can maximise the economic benefits of floating offshore wind technology, in line with the forthcoming Celtic Sea leasing process being delivered by The Crown Estate. The strategy will allow the region’s stakeholders to ensure their activities are aligned and can achieve their common objectives.

The Celtic Sea Cluster is led by its founding partners, Welsh Government, Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, Celtic Sea Power, Marine Energy Wales and the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult.

The Cluster’s ambition is to establish the Celtic Sea region as a world leader in floating offshore wind by 2030, laying the foundations for a new sustainable long-term industry. This will help the UK to be at the forefront of the green industrial revolution as it accelerates its progress towards net zero.

Floating wind in the Celtic Sea will create a completely new industry in the region, bringing new high value jobs and export opportunities and strengthening the local economy. It will build on existing regional capabilities in offshore renewables and enable access to a fast-growing global market.

The Regional Strategy promises to:

• Galvanise the regional supply chains;
• Provide a single voice to engage with governments, regulators, and project developer;
• Find innovative ways to accelerate deployment; and
• Work with Celtic Sea users to protect the onshore and offshore environment.

Vaughan Gething MS, Welsh Government Minister for Economy, said:
“The opportunity to deliver 4GW of floating wind in the Celtic Sea by 2035, with potential to grow to 20GW by 2045, is a massive undertaking. Success requires collaboration and strategic development to enable the deployment of sustainable, green, energy generation. Working across borders we can play to each other’s strengths, identify gaps, and seek to maximise strategic benefit to the regions we support.

“The Celtic Sea Regional Strategy will provide the direction necessary to enable Wales and South West England to collaborate and maximise the huge economic opportunity offered by floating offshore wind. A single pan region strategy ensures individual local plans can focus on harnessing existing local strengths, targeting opportunities to galvanise supply chains and find innovative ways to accelerate deployment which collectively will achieve the strategy objectives.”

CELTIC SEA REGIONAL STRATEGY

About the Celtic Sea Cluster

The Celtic Sea Cluster has been established to help drive market creation for floating wind, accelerate supply chain readiness and develop a strategy for enhancing regional infrastructure.

The Cluster will respond to the growing number of project developers staking a claim to areas of seabed in the Celtic Sea, the area of ocean situated off the coast of Cornwall, between Wales and Ireland.

It will support floating wind developers access between 15 and 50GW of the 150-250 GW total floating offshore wind capacity that could realistically be developed in the Celtic Sea, the region of sea space between the England, Wales and Ireland.

Floating offshore wind is expected to contribute to the creation of more than 29,000 UK jobs and deliver an anticipated £43.6bn in UK gross value add (GVA) by 2050 against a 100GW offshore wind deployment scenario, whilst boosting industry and opportunity in Wales and the South West.

With the UK setting a target of 40GW of offshore wind by 2030, the ambition is at least 1GW will come from floating wind.