Industry and the public sector have united in a bid to accelerate and expand the growth of offshore energy supply chain on the east coast of Scotland.
The Forth & Tay Offshore venture has been backed by Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Perth & Kinross, East Lothian and Scottish Borders with support from SSE, EDF Renewables and Red Rock Power Limited.
It intends to assist a series of activities designed to support innovation, collaboration, investment in skills and market awareness, while also promoting our existing supply chain capabilities.
The new cluster is being set up as part of the UK Government’s Sector Deal for Offshore Wind, which set an ambition for the industry to generate 30% of the UK’s power needs by 2030.
A series of business breakfasts throughout the east coast of Scotland are planned to kickstart engagement.
These start on Wednesday at Doubletree Hilton Hotel in North Queensferry.
A Dundee event on September 26 will be held at Enterprise House in Greenmarket.
Andy McDonald, head of low carbon at Scottish Enterprise said: “Scotland’s offshore wind sector continues to go from strength to strength, with two major projects beginning construction, three participating in this year’s CfD auction and a multiple new sites being offered via the ScotWind leasing round.
“The new Forth & Tay cluster is well placed to service not only Scotland’s growing offshore wind pipeline, but also the many other projects planned for the rest of the UK and Europe.
“The clusters are an ideal route for the Scottish supply chain to tap into innovation, collaboration and skills development opportunities, so I’d encourage any interested company to come along to the business breakfasts to learn how they can become part of Scotland’s offshore wind success story.”
rmclaren@thecourier.co.uk