Supply chain leaders want collaboration

Offshore wind sector suppliers want the industry to work together to secure opportunities for the domestic supply chain.

Speaking during a panel session on offshore wind at the All-Energy conference in Glasgow, Port of Cromarty Firth strategic business development manager Joanne Allday said that, while the inbound wave of new projects was positive for the supply chain, opportunities would be lost if government and industry did not follow a sustainable strategy.

She said the port had been approached by many ScotWind developers, all of whom planned projects in 2028 ahead of the UK Government’s 2030 target of 40GW of offshore wind.

She said they can’t all happen in Scotland at once.

“There are literally only a handful of ports that can accommodate these projects, so I think we need to have a really adult conversation about how Scotland is going to deliver them and how are we going to have a sustainable run of projects for the supply chain.”

Kincardine floating wind farm could have been built at Cromarty, she said, but was sent to Spain and Rotterdam.

“The Scottish supply chain should be jumping up and down and saying ‘no, we want this here’.”

The need for visibility in procurement was echoed by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy head of business development Andrew Elmes, who said the chain “abhors cycles”.

“We want nice and smooth – not just for developing projects, but also for predictability of investment and of jobs and components,” he explained.

“We need the infrastructure like the ports and factories.”

He said developers are looking to draw from the same pool of suppliers and ports in north-west Europe so we need an indigenous supply to compete.

But Richard Haydock, BP’s project director for UK offshore wind, was optimistic that rising global costs could be a driver for building UK capabilities.

“We could be at a point where some of the global dynamics are fundamentally changing the supply chain,” he said, noting that the cost of shipping from the Far East has risen fivefold this year.

He pointed to BP’s investment at Port of Leith, which was a key component of its joint ScotWind bid.

“I think there is an onus on all of the developers to make sure they are making investments (in Scottish ports) and making those investments really early.

“Once the infrastructure is there, then you can look at putting in the factories, then the fabrication and getting these port investments done.”

Ms Allday agreed, saying we need to build projects out over 10, 15, 20 years.

“We do have to get real about some of that and stop all talking about 2030,” she added.

HOME WORK: Port of Cromarty Firth as calls are made for project sustainability.