Scottish services companies have been urged to grab a slice of the £2 billion-a-year offshore renewables operations and maintenance market.
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said businesses should be positioning themselves now to take advantage of O&M opportunities when and where they arose as the offshore wind industry matured.
The O&M sector is expected to generate £24 billion worth of work between now and 2025 a quarter of the expected total capital expenditure on windfarm developments in UK waters.
Scottish Enterprise and the Crown Estate jointly published a new guide detailing the various opportunities in offshore wind, ranging from turbine and foundation maintenance to offshore logistics and the upkeep of subsea cabling and grid connections.
Mr Ewing said: “This guide is a huge step forward for companies to work towards in reaching their real, high-level ambitions and true potential.”
Maggie McGinlay, SE’s director of energy and clean technologies, said: “As a new and growing industry it’s often easy to underestimate the scale of the potential opportunity of offshore wind, which goes far beyond the development and construction of windfarms.
“It’s vital that companies in our supply chain are aware of how they can benefit from this growth.”A separate report also launched yesterday said the offshore wind industry presented a “once in a generation” opportunity for the UK economy.
The joint Renewable UK/Crown Estate report said the next 12 months were critical for the industry’s development, and that by 2030 the UK would need seven turbine tower factories and the same number of blade and nacelle making facilities.
It also suggested the industry would need more than 20 mega-sized seagoing vessels to install offshore turbines, and a further fleet of 230 vessels to carry workers to and from the turbines once operational.