Floating Offshore Wind: Celtic Sea

Noah Law Excerpts

Thursday 12th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford, and to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth (Perran Moon), who spoke so lucidly about the challenges we face in building a home-grown supply chain and heeding the lessons of history. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this important debate and congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham) on securing it.

Floating offshore wind represents a truly transformative opportunity for Cornwall and the broader UK—an opportunity to bring jobs to our region while turbocharging the UK’s energy transition. Cornwall’s deep maritime heritage and strategic location uniquely positions us to be at the forefront of the floating offshore wind industry. The Celtic sea’s vast potential for renewable energy production can meet the challenges of deeper water, as my hon. Friend the Member for Mid and South Pembrokeshire (Henry Tufnell) rightly suggested, and those challenges cannot easily be met by our traditional fixed offshore wind industry.

With 4.5 GW of flow capacity envisaged for the region, we can power millions of homes with clean energy while creating around 5,300 jobs and delivering £1.5 billion of gross value added to the local economy, with around a third of that expected to arise in Cornwall, which can play its role in championing the southern side of the Celtic sea.

In Cornwall the opportunity is not abstract: it is very much tangible. With the natural advantages of Falmouth harbour, which we have heard so much about, with its deep-water access and existing maritime infrastructure, Falmouth is truly a flagship location for our floating offshore wind Celtic sea cluster. Its impact will extend far beyond the Truro and Falmouth constituency because, for constituencies like mine—St Austell and Newquay—the ripple effects of job creation, skills development and supply chain growth can be significant.

From the industrial engineering of components to logistical support, floating offshore wind can energise industries that in many cases already exist across the spine of Cornwall. To make the vision a reality we need political leadership and co-ordination. 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. They must work with the Crown Estate and developers and educational institutions to address the barriers that hold back the industry. Only through a unified strategic focus can floating offshore wind reach its potential.

Floating offshore wind requires a new generation of skilled workers in maritime engineering, fabrication and supply chain logistics. That is why I will soon meet the Skills Minister to urge Skills England to adopt a long-term perspective on the industry and its development locally. Institutions like Falmouth marine school, as we have heard, and certainly Cornwall college, which is also based in my constituency, are already laying the groundwork, but they need substantial and sustained investment to scale up the training programmes. We must ensure that young people in Cornwall have access to the skills and qualifications necessary to thrive in the sector and share in the great prosperity it can bring to our part of the world.

The scale of investment required is truly substantial. As we have heard, ports like Falmouth need to upgrade to become hubs for assembly operations and maintenance. I am working closely with the national wealth fund to ensure that Cornwall features prominently in its pipeline of prospective investments. We also need the tailored mechanisms we have heard about, such as contracts for difference that account for the higher costs and early-stage challenges of projects in this part of Britain. Without those, developers may turn elsewhere, and Cornwall in particular risks missing out on this once-in-a-generation opportunity.

For Cornwall to realise the full benefits of floating offshore wind, our public infrastructure must be developed alongside it and be up to the task. Improved road, rail and grid connections are essential. We need a freight line down to the Falmouth docks, we need the spine of Cornwall’s infrastructure network to be strong, and we need to ensure that Tamar crossings do not financially disadvantage local residents or businesses or the logistics supply chain associated with the industry. We must ensure the seamless movement of goods and people.

The Crown Estate has a pivotal role in championing the floating offshore wind industry and showcasing Cornwall’s strengths and potential. I welcome its recent decision to award match funding to Blue Abyss, which is in my constituency and is a world-class facility poised to become the centre of innovation for offshore wind energy and maritime technology. It is a really strong signal from the Crown Estate, but there is much more to be done. We need to continue to prioritise local supply chain development and work actively with local stakeholders to ensure that Cornwall’s potential is fully recognised and utilised.

The development of floating offshore wind in the Celtic sea is more than just an energy initiative. It is an economic and social catalyst with the power to revitalise our communities, tackle regional inequalities and cement Britain’s position as a global leader in renewable energy. For Cornwall, it is an opportunity for us to build our maritime heritage and to shape a sustainable future. To achieve this, we need a clear strategy that brings together Government, industry and educational institutions. We need a spatial strategy that works hand in glove with the fishing industry to make sure this is a success for every part of our community, and we need the investment in skills, infrastructure and local supply chains to get this off the ground and to ensure that local people feel the prosperity.

We need to act urgently to secure contracts, funding, investment and confidence to unlock the full potential of FLOW and Cornwall’s role in it. I urge the Government to seize this moment and commit to the co-ordinated action we need to deliver on the promise of floating offshore wind. Together, we can harness the power of the Celtic sea to light our homes, power our industries and create a legacy of sustainable prosperity for Cornwall and beyond.