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241213 | When the wind blows: why Cornwall’s floating offshore jobs bonanza has still not arrived

Submitted by GoogleNews and ... on Mon, 16/12/2024 - 12:57.

When the wind blows: why Cornwall’s floating offshore jobs bonanza has still not arrived

Posted By theboss on 13th December 2024

By Graham Smith

Some of the challenges involved in turning Cornwall’s plentiful supply of wind into thousands of renewable energy jobs have been thrown into sharp relief during a House of Commons debate yesterday (Thursday.)

An adjournment debate secured by Truro and Falmouth MP Jayne Kirkham, attracting contributions from Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth), Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) and Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay) heard energy minister Michael Shanks reply that Britain was keen to decarbonise its energy supply by 2030 – and explain, as gently as possible, that Cornwall was not the number one priority.

While offshore wind farms in the North Sea have already turned the UK into a world leader in the sector, the Celtic Sea remains what Ms Kirkham called “a greenfield site” – with huge potential, but no infrastructure.

The Celtic Sea Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) dream is to generate not only 5GW of electricity, but 5,300 jobs in the development of port infrastructure and component supply.

But where, and when?  The debate heard no specific answers.

The other Cornish MPs added their voices calling for government investment, particularly in the form of subsidies to make the Celtic Sea appear more attractive.

The debate lasted an hour and heard some interesting points, leaving the MPs to reflect on some uncomfortable truths.

The years of hyperbolic promises from Cornwall Council, its wholly-owned company Celtic Sea Power and the former Local Enterprise Partnership have simply been more hot air.

Cornwall does not have a suitable connection to the National Grid to allow large quantities of electricity to flow ashore.

Despite County Hall’s delusional aspirations of self-governing nationhood, it is too small to compete with Scotland or Wales.

Electricity from the Celtic Sea, when it does finally start to come ashore, will go to Pembrokeshire and not Hayle.

“We have a port in Falmouth, which is mainly why I am here,” said Ms Kirkham,”but there are others in Appledore, Plymouth and Milford Haven, so many ports and port clusters could be got up to speed to help develop floating offshore wind in the Celtic sea.

“Unfortunately, France is ahead of us; it has committed €900 million to the port of Brest, so we need to catch up.”

Whereas the previous government had pitched ports in competition with each other, Ms Kirkham called for a collaborative approach.

“We need a unified national strategy for floating offshore wind and a regional masterplan for FLOW in the Celtic sea,” said Ms Kirkham.

“Without the strategy, we risk losing out on the benefits of this nationally important infrastructure project, including its export potential. We risk the goal of reaching clean energy by 2030.

“There is a huge future in the Celtic sea, and we need to reach out and grasp it.”

Perran Moon pointed out that “British” offshore wind turbines were actually manufactured in Spain, sent to Rotterdam for assembly, and finally towed across the North Sea to Scotland.  A Conservative MP added that the finance came from China.

“Floating offshore wind sub-structures alone can measure up to 80 metres across and weigh thousands of tonnes, with the turbines themselves expected to reach as high as 300 metres,” said Mr Moon.

“Ports need adequate quays, crane capacity and lay-down space to accommodate these vast engineering structures, so where better to develop than the third-deepest natural harbour in the world at Falmouth?”

Where indeed?  Perhaps a port which already has adequate quays and crane capacity without the extra need for millions of pounds in investment?

Noah Law hoped that floating offshore wind might transform Cornwall’s economy.  “To make the vision a reality we need political leadership and co-ordination,” he said.  “Central government must work hand in hand, ideally with a devolved government in Cornwall, with floating offshore wind at the heart of their industrial strategy.”

One obstacle to this vision is that any devolved government in Cornwall is still far too obsessed with tourism to have anything else at the heart of its “industrial” strategy.  Local government tribunes from Newquay would rather sell you a plastic bucket and spade than a wind turbine.

Ben Maguire said his Liberal Democrat party had long championed renewable energy but worried that fishermen might have concerns.  “Those groups are not inherently anti-offshore wind, but they urge, in their words, “sense and balance” when planning offshore developments,” he said.

Ms Kirkham’s motion was that the House “should consider floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea” and it did so without a vote.

The real test of any significant change in government priorities will come in the next round of auctions for Contracts for Difference – taxpayer subsidies – and the view they take of the Celtic Sea compared with the North Sea.

The sober, factual approach of the debate was a bracing change from the usual hyperbolic blether from County Hall and its Celtic Sea Power money-pit.

But at the moment, building any significant floating offshore wind farm in the Celtic Sea would be – as far as Cornwall is concerned - to put the cart before the horse.  There is nowhere to plug it in.

Any progress towards a “co-ordinated” regional approach would require some kind of combination with other councils, particularly Devon.  Next week’s devolution White Paper will finally add some realism to that debate.

There are so many other first steps required that Cornwall’s “wind economy” and jobs bonanza is still only a spec on the horizon.

.. 

original reporting via https://cornwallreports.co.uk/when-the-wind-blows-why-cornwalls-floating...
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