There are plans to start building enormous floating wind turbines in a Welsh port. The docks at Port Talbot hopes to capture some of the work of building these giant turbines which it is hoped will start generating energy in the Celtic Sea, off the coast of Wales, England and Ireland.
The port is ideal because it is a deep water port that will enable the construction of these behemoth floating structures. The massive turbines float on a base the size of a football pitch. The base is 30 metres high. On top of that is a turbine in excess of 300m. This is the same as the Eiffel Tower. This image shows how the structures compare to other UK landmarks:
Putting these humungous turbines together will take a lot of materials and this is another reason why the port is seen as a perfect location because it is adjacent to the steel works. If all of this goes ahead, the turbines will be likely be visible from the M4 as people drive past the town before they are taken out into the Celtic Sea to begin generating clean energy.
This image is a mock up of how the proposals will look in practice:
The Welsh Affairs Committee has published a report arguing that floating offshore wind represents the "single biggest investment opportunity in Wales for decades".
The wind turbines would be installed in the Celtic Sea, which is the area of the Atlantic ocean south of the Irish Sea and bordered by the south of Ireland, the Bristol Channel, the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay.
Ports in Wales including Port Talbot and Milford Haven hope to capture some of the work of building these giant turbines. Both are part of the so-called "Celtic Freeport" at Milford Haven and Port Talbot. The other is the Holyhead Freeport on the Isle of Anglesey. The Welsh Government hopes the freeports will focus on low carbon technologies, such as floating offshore wind (FLOW), hydrogen, carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) and biofuels to support the accelerated reduction of carbon emissions.
In a recent report, the Welsh Affairs Select Committee said "floating offshore wind farms could create thousands of high-quality, long-term jobs and give Wales the ‘first-mover’ advantage. However, developers and port operators told the Committee that a lack of long-term targets and a clear pipeline of projects to unlock investment are stifling progress."
The sea bed in much of the Celtic Sea is owned by the Crown Estate which thinks there is potential to generate 20GW of energy further offshore than is possible through conventional fixed windfarms. Private sector firms including Norwegian energy giant Equinor are among those interested in being involved. Equinor is developing two of the world's first offshore floating windfarms.
Speaking during a visit to Port Talbot, economy minister, Vaughan Gething, expressed his hope that that freeport status would help bring such work to the town.
He said: “It was great to be in Port Talbot today to congratulate the Celtic Freeport team on their successful bid From off-shore energy to advanced manufacturing, the Celtic Freeport will help create tens of thousands of new, high quality jobs in the green industries of the future. it will support our highly ambitious plans to reach net zero by 2050, while also supporting our young people to plan their futures here in Wales.
“All this will help us transform the economy of south west Wales, helping us create a stronger, fairer and greener future for local people and communities.”
Roger Maggs MBE, chair of the Celtic Freeport consortium, added: "Wales is on the cusp on an exciting green journey. The freeport decision will cause a chain reaction.
“Upgrading our major energy ports in Milford Haven and Port Talbot will enable floating offshore wind, create the cradle to nurture new green tech companies and take a step on the path to greening Wales’ steel industry. Now is the time for action so that Wales captures the renewable energy supply chain.”
Secretary of State for Wales David TC Davies said: "Ideally they're going to be lots of high tech industries, many of them involved in net zero manufacturing and floating offshore wind. Right over there, there'll be wind turbines being floated off towards the Celtic Sea to be generating even more floating offshore wind."
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