By Kirstine Wood, Head of Communications and Public Affairs.
For the fourth year, Flotation Energy has brought stakeholders to the Kincardine offshore windfarm to experience floating wind first-hand.
We started these visits because there are some things you simply cannot understand from a presentation. Seeing floating turbines operating offshore gives a very different appreciation of the scale, the engineering and the environment in which this technology must perform. Four years on, that remains important, but the conversation has moved on. Kincardine has demonstrated what floating wind can do. The challenge now is creating the industrial capability needed to deliver it at commercial scale.
Advancing the floating wind ecosystem
One of the most valuable parts of our visits is hearing directly from the people who take part. Feedback from this year’s participants spanned the supply chain, government, industry bodies, developers, academia, ports, finance and the media and showed just how valuable that first-hand experience can be.
93%
said the programme for the stakeholder visits had improved their understanding of the benefits and impacts of floating wind.
96%
confirmed it had increased their confidence in its importance to Scotland and the UK’s future energy ambitions.
90%
of delegates left with greater confidence in the opportunities floating wind can create for ports, businesses and communities.
85%
stated they were more likely to support, advocate for or speak positively about floating wind because of the experience.
Visitors talked about seeing the turbines up close making the scale of the opportunity tangible, gaining a much better understanding of the technology and manufacturing behind floating wind, and appreciating the practical realities of working offshore. Others highlighted the value of visiting ports and supply chain businesses alongside Kincardine, and of meeting organisations already working to address some of the industry’s emerging challenges.
For me, that is one of the strongest reasons for continuing with our trips. Bringing people together around a live project creates a different kind of conversation. It gives people the opportunity to ask questions, share perspectives and better understand how their own part of the sector connects with the wider challenge.
Industry wide commitment
That wider understanding is important because the next phase of floating wind requires more than successful projects. It needs an industry around them.
We need the right port infrastructure, a strong domestic supply chain, skilled people and the capability to support floating turbines throughout their operational lives. That includes planning now for major component replacement at scale and considering how the infrastructure needed to support that activity can create long-term value for Scotland.
There is a significant opportunity to establish a major component replacement hub here, supporting floating wind projects throughout their operational lives while creating sustained demand for port infrastructure, engineering capability and skilled jobs.
The opportunity extends well beyond any one project.
Kincardine has shown what floating wind can achieve. Our White Cross test and demonstration project can help test and de-risk the next generation of technology and delivery approaches, whilst Green Volt will take floating wind into commercial-scale deployment. To follow, Cenos represents the potential to move towards industrial-scale floating wind development. But delivering this pipeline successfully will depend on the ecosystem developed around it.
Scotland is well-placed to lead
Scotland has many of the ingredients already – experienced ports, offshore engineering expertise, a skilled energy workforce and decades of experience operating in challenging North Sea conditions.
Turning those strengths into lasting economic value will require collaboration across government, developers, ports, academia and the wider supply chain. That’s why initiatives like this matter.
Seeing floating wind first-hand helps make an emerging industry tangible. More importantly, it creates the space for the conversations that need to happen if we are going to move from demonstration to deployment at scale.
Four years on, the questions we hear are becoming more detailed, more practical and increasingly focused on delivery.
The opportunity for floating wind in Scotland remains significant, and what we see through these visits is a real depth of expertise, commitment and collaboration across the sector. That gives us a strong foundation for the work still ahead.
