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Wales-led consortium secures £1 million for innovative offshore wind platforms

By: Chloe Emanuel 17/06/2024 Tata Steel

Floating Foundations General Turbines Windfarms

A Wales-based industrial collaboration, spearheaded by Swansea's Marine Power Systems (MPS), has been granted nearly £1 million in innovation funding. The project aims to utilise low CO2 steels from Tata Steel’s Port Talbot facility to construct platforms for floating offshore wind structures, bolstering local supply chains.

The initiative, part of the Launchpad project, brings together MPS, Tata Steel UK, Swansea University, Associated British Ports, and Ledwood Engineering. Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency, has provided the funding to advance and refine PelaFlex, MPS’s flexible floating offshore wind platform, for use in the Celtic Sea. The project also seeks to enhance the local sourcing of materials and the efficiency of fabrication, manufacture, and deployment processes.

Graham Foster, MPS Chief Technology Officer, stated, “We aim to increase the proportion of local, low CO2 steel in our platforms from around 10% to over 50%, potentially using up to 50,000 tonnes of steel annually for Celtic Sea wind projects.”

Rajesh Nair, CEO of Tata Steel UK, highlighted the strategic importance of green steel production in South Wales, emphasising the collaboration's potential to strengthen local supply chains and benefit surrounding communities.

Mark Davies of Ledwood Mechanical Engineering expressed enthusiasm for the project, noting its significance for the floating offshore wind industry and the opportunities it presents for South-West Wales.

The project will focus on optimising the structural efficiency of PelaFlex, considering the challenging conditions of the Celtic Sea while minimising material and deployment costs. This includes using strip steel from Port Talbot, local component fabrication, and leveraging existing ports for assembly and deployment.

Swansea University will contribute advanced structural design modelling, while Ledwood will provide feedback to enhance local fabrication support. Associated British Ports and the Port of Milford Haven will ensure efficient assembly and deployment from local ports, minimising investment needs.

The UK Government, in its current 4.5 GW licensing round for floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea, aims to achieve 5 GW of floating offshore wind capacity by 2050. The Labour Party Manifesto 2024 supports this goal, pledging to fast-track at least 5 GW of floating offshore wind capacity to achieve clean power by 2030.

For more information about offshore wind farm projects across the globe, click here.

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Wales-led consortium secures £1 million for innovative offshore wind platforms

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