Carbon Trust to Back UK’s Floating Wind Demo Programme

The UK’s Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has appointed the Carbon Trust to provide technical support to the Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) Demonstration Programme, a GBP 17 million competitive funding scheme BEIS launched in March.

The Carbon Trust, with support from Offshore Wind Consultants (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.

The Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) Demonstration Programme is designed to accelerate the development and demonstration of innovative floating offshore wind technologies addressing three key challenges: mooring/anchoring, dynamic cables and floaters/foundations; alongside a series of industry-led miscellaneous projects.

Accelerating the deployment of floating offshore wind farms, will represent a step-change in the UK’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.  

With the country’s energy supply being the second largest emitting sector, representing 21 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions, speeding up the decarbonisation of the power industry is a key component of achieving the UK’s net zero target, according to the Carbon Trust.

The news on the Carbon Trust being appointed to support BEIS’s floating wind efforts comes at the same time the Crown Estate announced it had selected three floating wind projects in its seabed leasing round set up to specifically award lease rights to projects using floating wind technology as the country targets having 1 GW of floating wind in its energy mix by 2030.