The Minister for Climate Change today confirmed the Welsh Government’s continued support for Wales’ infrastructure and supply chain to help deliver net zero targets, announcing a further £1m funding to explore the potential of floating offshore wind.
This grant will be match funded by the Port of Milford Haven for ground investigation works which form part of preparatory work to enable future floating offshore wind projects to deploy from Pembroke Port in Wales. This builds on a similar match-funded grant made to Associated British Ports for early-stage work at Port Talbot announced in January 2023[1].
The Minister added:
“This investment re-affirms, to both the industry and the UK Government, Welsh Government’s ongoing commitment to the floating wind sector. It also provides important funding for the infrastructure that we will need to deliver our floating wind to meet our ambitions and a just transition.
Of course, this is not the end of our support, and we will continue to work closely with the Port of Milford Haven, Associated British Ports and colleagues in the Celtic Sea Alliance to maximise the benefits from floating wind to Wales and the wider UK.”
Tom Sawyer, Chief Executive at the Port of Milford Haven, said:
“This welcome support from Welsh Government will help the Port of Milford Haven in its mission to make sure Pembrokeshire remains in the driving seat of the energy transition. Knowing the type and extent of rock, gravel and silts here is vital if we are going to understand what will be involved in engineering the next evolution of Pembroke Port.
“Offshore renewable energy offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring sustainable economic growth and rewarding careers for our current and future generations.
“This early-stage, preparatory work is an important first step in realising our ambition to create a future energy ready port facility at Pembroke Port, helping our region get a head-start in the global race to host developers of floating offshore wind (FLOW) technology.
“We know FLOW developers will need extensive deep-water dockside facilities to support installation and maintenance of wind farms in the Celtic Sea. With additional investment in infrastructure, Pembroke Port would be the best equipped, deepest, most sheltered, and closest port for FLOW developers in the Celtic Sea. Combined with Pembrokeshire’s heavy engineering cluster, energy transmission and distribution in situ, and a growing globally renowned business cluster backed by R&D, there is massive potential for growth.”
[1] Wales aims to meet 100% of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2035 | GOV.WALES