The UK government is pumping £31m ($41.7m) into the domestic floating offshore wind sector as it looks to drive deployment of the green technology.
Some 11 projects are receiving a share of the money which is matched by more than £30m from industry, to boost the sector by £60m, the UK’s Business Department (Beis) said.
The funding, of up to £10m per project, aims to support research and development of technology for floating offshore wind, and bring down the costs of building and deploying the renewable power source more quickly.
Research will focus on areas such as how turbines are moored to the seabed, undersea cabling and developing foundation solutions.
With global gas prices at record highs, the UK government said it is determined to strengthen energy security further by deploying home-grown renewable technologies to reduce its dependency on volatile fossil fuels.
Among the projects to secure funding — receiving £9.6m — is a scheme with bases in Edinburgh, Belfast, London and Doncaster, developing and demonstrating new technologies for mooring turbines, cable protection, floating base design and a digital monitoring system.
Another project with bases in Cambridge, Feltham, Aberdeen and Blyth, will get £10m for bringing forward a compact floating turbine foundation and anchors that will likely enable a 2MW, or larger, turbine to be demonstrated in UK waters.
And more than £3.4m will go to a Swansea-based project to develop a floating wind turbine foundation with a small footprint that also generates power from wave energy.
“We are already a world leader in offshore wind and floating technology is key to unlocking the full potential of the seas around Britain,” said UK energy minister Greg Hands.
“These innovative projects will help us expand renewable energy further and faster across the UK and help to reduce our exposure volatile global gas prices.”
