Posters

Abstract

Investment into our port infrastructure for Floating Offshore Wind (FOW) manufacture is hindered by uncertainty within demand projections and a perceived lack of viable return to either the developer or port operator. Master planning has identified widespread potential and eagerness of supply chains but the true demand depends on how returns are realised and achieving financial sustainability within the port. Lesser financial risk to investors is through the lens of strategic asset management. The aim being to offer developers the versatility of their existing port infrastructure amongst enduring business as usual cycles of alternate cargo. Thereby, the need for significant capital investment and prolonging the timeframes to design, consent and build FOW ports are eliminated. Jacobs were commissioned by a Tier 1 Contractor to screen European ports for setup of a FOW manufacture facility. The brief and criterion was developed with the client and considered demonstrator through to production-line scalability by 2030. The screening process took the technical assessment through three decision gates; firstly identifying suitable sites, before assessing capability and finally preferability of a shortlist of sites across Europe. Each site was appraised for its attributes in component manufacture, port throughput, heavy equipment and quayside facilities, operational expertise, navigable access & metocean restrictions, material availability, consenting & planning restrictions and access to workforce skills. The findings from this study were extended to aide wider research into FOW manufacture sites across European geographies on the sea. Through this, we identified asset potential across a number of existing sites and the limiting features to Transport & Installation (T&I) port operations. This has added benefit to secure port agreements during leasing rounds and to future-proof industrial growth in FOW.