The Carbon Trust has been appointed by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to provide technical support to the Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) Demonstration Program, to help accelerate the net zero transition, while bolstering the UK’s renewable energy generation.

• The Carbon Trust has been appointed to provide technical evaluation and independent monitoring support to the Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) Demonstration Program, a funding scheme designed to accelerate the development and demonstration of floating offshore wind innovative technologies and products.
• The program will target three key industry challenges: mooring/anchoring, dynamic cables and floaters/foundations, alongside a series of industry-led miscellaneous projects.
• The program is part of the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP), a £1 billion fund to support the development and adaptation of low carbon technologies and systems across industry, power and the built environment.

The FOW Demonstration Program is a £17 million competitive funding scheme, launched in March 2021 to support innovation in the floating offshore wind industry, by funding the development and demonstration of new technologies addressing three key challenges: mooring/anchoring, dynamic cables and floaters/foundations; alongside a series of industry-led miscellaneous projects.

The Carbon Trust, with support from offshore wind technical consultancy OWC, will assist BEIS with the initial evaluation of proposals, followed by the provision of independent support and ongoing monitoring of the successful grant recipients. Energy supply is the second largest emitting sector in the UK, representing a 21% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

Accelerating the deployment of floating offshore wind farms, will represent a step-change in the country’s renewable energy capacity, as it opens up new areas with high-wind resources that are not suitable for bottom-fixed installations, such as very deep waters.  Speeding up the decarbonization of the power industry is a key component of achieving the UK’s net zero target.

Sam Strivens, Manager of Floating Offshore Wind at the Carbon Trust commented: “The Carbon Trust is delighted to have been selected by BEIS to support the delivery of its FOW Demonstration Program. This complements our existing portfolio of floating offshore wind activities, including managing the Floating Wind JIP (the world-leading, collaborative R&D program for floating offshore wind) and providing floating wind-specific technical, commercial and policy advice to both the public and private sector. Our focus will be to draw on our expertise to help maximize the outcomes of the FOW Demonstration Program.

This latest award builds on the Carbon Trust’s track record of managing and supporting the allocation of public grant funding. Most recently the Carbon Trust successfully concluded the Floating Wind Technology Acceleration Competition which saw £1 million of Scottish Government funding awarded to innovators engaged in the acceleration of floating offshore wind technologies with a focus on Scottish supply-chain development.”

Tim Camp, Director of Turbine Engineering at OWC, added: “We are delighted to be working with the Carbon Trust in supporting BEIS in this highly important project for the UK renewables industry. The development of a robust, flexible and commercial floating wind concept is critical to ensuring the scalability of floating offshore wind to the UK’s deeper waters. Building in deeper waters will unlock vast untapped clean energy resources, significantly accelerating our race to net-zero.”

With experience spanning across more than 20 FOW projects so far, OWC along with its parent company ABL Group, brings to the project far-reaching and multi-disciplined expertise in all stages of the development of a FOW project.”