A crown for Port Talbot
Aiming to give offshore wind power a leg up. The British Crown is using part of its supply chain accelerator fund to increase the ability to compete of offshore energy production off Port Talbot (Wales). Sarens and Tugdock will build an operations and maintenance centre there.
Tugdock, an engineering company from Falmouth, Cornwall (England), and Sarens, a Belgian provider of crane hire, heavylift and technical transport services, are receiving support from the Crown Estate, from the United Kingdom, as part of the latter’s supply chain accelerator fund, designed to catalyse UK supply chain capabilities for offshore wind power projects.
Sarens has announced on its website that the financial support will enable the firm to develop and build a heavylift operations and maintenance centre (O & M hub) for floating offshore wind turbines at Port Talbot (Wales), which is run by Associated British Ports (ABP). The port operator and the German energy enterprise RWE will also support the project.
The vision is to provide “support for heavylift equipment used in floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic Sea.”
Tugdock specialises in developing submersible platforms and provides them to users. Its technology includes transportable steel frames with inflatable elements. These are filled with compressed air and can be used as stabilisation, control or even buoyancy elements.
Increasing the ability to compete
According to Lucas Lowe Houghton, Tugdock’s chief revenue officer, the O & M hub is committed to promoting Port Talbot’s ability to compete in the floating wind power market at the national and international level. Together, the various parties involved will “ensure that Port Talbot is equipped with a heavylift facility to attract and retain major customers,” Houghton said.
The operations and maintenance hub will cover a wide range of heavylift services, according to Carl Sarens, the director of global operations, technical solutions and engineering at Sarens. Cranes and submersible platforms aren’t the only part of Sarens’ repertoire in this collaborative effort; consultancy, storage and training services are also included.
This service model means that customers don’t have to engage several contractors, “which will greatly simplify project management and simultaneously reduce costs,’ according to Carl Sarens.
Royal fund for marine wind power
In a first funding round, GBP 5 million is set to be allocated by the Crown Estate, from its supply chain accelerator fund, and other partners, to enable firms “to boost the capacity of the UK’s offshore wind supply chains,” as is stated on the Crown Estate’s website.
According to the website, offshore wind power production has increased in the UK, but the concomitant infrastructure and supply chains haven’t grown fast enough. This is why the fund was created.
In addition to the amount already provided, the Crown Estate plans to invest a further GBP 45 million from the fund to projects that are in line with an industrial growth plan it has established with partners.
The scheme aims to triple the production capacity of offshore wind turbines over the next ten years. According to the estate’s website, management teams are examining how extensive future rounds could be. An update will follow in spring 2025.