Exporting Offshore WindOffshore Wind Week | October 2016

Britain is exporting essential services, such as cable installation, repairing equipment, and supporting construction work. The higher end contracts in our analysis were valued at £30m.

Many major economies, including China and the US, are developing offshore wind. These countries are looking to learn from the UK’s achievements.

In July 2016 RenewableUK and the UK Government worked together to bring a delegation of senior figures from China to the UK to learn about offshore wind. In October 2016, we took a group of UK companies to China to do business.

The UK took the lead in developing offshore wind, and now the rest of the world is following, allowing

significant opportunities for UK companies and expertise to be exported. Last year Germany added the most capacity of any country, and UK companies played their part in developing it. The Netherlands has plans to expand its offshore wind resource, Japan has a strong pipeline of projects in planning and France is looking to expand both fixed and floating wind turbines. In addition in September 2016, the US announced a strategic

plan to enable up to 86GW of offshore wind by 2050. As UK companies were involved in the US’s first offshore wind farm, Block Island, the potential is huge.

Number of upcoming projects in the world

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Yet to start

Ongoing

Completed

Ge

rma

ny

De

nm

ark

Jap

an

Ne

the

rla

nd

s

Sw

ed

en

US

A

Be

lgiu

m

So

uth

Ko

rea

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Under construction Consented In development

Rest of the world

Europe

UK

Surveying 7%

Forecasting 2% Installation

35%

Monitoring 5%

Support services 14%

Commissioning and testing 8%

Manufacturing services 29%

Entering other markets

UK companies are heavily involved in the German offshore wind market, which is the second largest in the world. We are also gaining a foothold in other burgeoning markets, including the US, which recently built its first offshore wind farm.

Exporting Offshore Wind

Upcoming projects

In 2015, UKTI estimated that by 2020, £40bn in supply and construction contracts could be awarded for offshore wind farms in the rest of Europe.

Britain is perfectly placed to take advantage of the large number of new offshore wind farms currently in the works.

The UK is the undisputed world leader in offshore wind energy and has been for a number of years. Offshore wind currently powers the equivalent of over four million homes a year, and this will grow to eight million by 2020.

UK companies are active in winning deals in Europe, the US and Asia. Just as the UK’s oil and gas expertise has been exported around the world, so we are seeing offshore wind exported today.

So far, UK companies have won 115 contracts to help build and service 50 offshore wind projects abroad. There

are 249 wind farms currently in development worldwide, representing a huge potential prize for the UK.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Yet to start

Ongoing

Completed

Ge

rma

ny

De

nm

ark

Jap

an

Ne

the

rla

nd

s

Sw

ed

en

US

A

Be

lgiu

m

So

uth

Ko

rea

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Under construction Consented In development

Rest of the world

Europe

UK

Surveying 7%

Forecasting 2% Installation

35%

Monitoring 5%

Support services 14%

Commissioning and testing 8%

Manufacturing services 29%

Share of export contracts by activity

Number of contracts awarded to UK companies

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Yet to start

Ongoing

Completed

Ge

rma

ny

De

nm

ark

Jap

an

Ne

the

rla

nd

s

Sw

ed

en

US

A

Be

lgiu

m

So

uth

Ko

rea

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Under construction Consented In development

Rest of the world

Europe

UK

Surveying 7%

Forecasting 2% Installation

35%

Monitoring 5%

Support services 14%

Commissioning and testing 8%

Manufacturing services 29%

Undisputed world leader

“The UK took the lead in developing offshore wind, and now the rest of the world is following, allowing significant opportunities for UK companies and expertise to be exported.”

JDR Cables has built a strong reputation for winning work outside the UK, and it has supplied some of Germany’s largest offshore wind farms. This has helped the company invest £10m in its factory in the Port of Hartlepool. It has already expanded its operations in the town, now hiring over 200 people, and its growth will continue in the coming years with plans to build a training centre. This will further support the offshore wind industry in Britain, and abroad.

First Subsea supplied a cable connector for the world’s largest floating offshore wind turbine. The Lancaster company has a long history of designing innovative products for use offshore. The project is located off the Fukushima coast in Japan.

Middlesbrough-based MPI Offshore has been very active in the renewables sector for over a decade. The company has won a range of multimillion-pound contracts outside of UK waters for offshore wind farms across the European seascape. It has strong, long-lasting relationships with many developers, in particular German energy firm E.ON. In 2013-2014, the company installed forty turbines at the Borkum wind farm and for one of the few offshore wind projects in Sweden’s Baltic region. In May this year, it won a new contract to install 54 turbines at the upcoming Nordsee One project in Germany.

Case Studies

Offshore Wind Week Partners

This document represents RenewableUK’s knowledge on publicly awarded export contracts as of October 2016.

First Subsea

MPI Offshore

JDR Cables1

2

3

RenewableUK is the UK’s leading renewable energy trade association, specialising in onshore wind, offshore wind and wave & tidal energy. Formed in 1978, we have an established, large corporate membership ranging from small independent companies, to large international corporations and manufacturers.

Acting as a central point of information and a united, representative voice for our membership, we conduct research; find solutions; organise events, facilitate business development, lobby and promote wind and marine renewables to government, industry, the media and the public.

Our vision is of renewable energy playing a leading role in powering the UK.