Britain’s Floating Wind Farms Could Lead the World, Says GB Energy Boss

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Dan McGrail, interim chief executive of GB Energy, has expressed interest in investing a portion of his £8.3 billion budget in floating wind farm technology, a move that could position the UK as a global leader in the industry. McGrail believes that Britain has the potential to become an exporter of floating wind farms, utilizing its existing expertise and supply chains to drive innovation in the sector.

 

 

Unlike traditional offshore wind farms, which are anchored to the seabed in the relatively shallow waters of the North Sea, floating wind farms use mooring lines attached to the sea floor, allowing them to harness deeper waters. Speaking on his third day in the role, McGrail stated, “Floating offshore wind is proven, but it hasn’t been scaled yet. There’s a huge opportunity for British enterprise.” He emphasized that the UK’s experience in oil and gas, along with its well-established supply chains, makes it well-suited to lead in this field.

 

 

McGrail, formerly the head of industry group RenewablesUK and an executive at Siemens, pointed out that investing in floating wind farms could lead to more turbine components being manufactured domestically. British offshore wind developers have previously been criticized for their dependence on Danish and German suppliers. “If we are able to be catalytic in bringing forward more projects here, then we can deepen supply chains. That then turns into an export story over a much longer period of time,” he explained.

 

He did not dismiss the possibility of GB Energy eventually owning floating wind farms outside the UK, similar to how Sweden’s state-owned Vattenfall operates England and Wales’s largest onshore wind farm. However, he stressed the importance of focusing on current projects. “Whether we are building wind farms in other countries … let’s do what we’ve got to do now well and do it right, and then we will explore what we do in the future,” he said.

 

The UK currently leads the world in floating wind power capacity, but this technology still represents only a small fraction of its offshore wind resources. It is also costlier than fixed-bottom turbines and is not expected to reach price parity for several years.

 

GB Energy is central to the government’s energy strategy, with Labour pledging that the company will contribute to reducing household energy bills by hundreds of pounds a year by 2030. The company is expected to announce its first investments soon, following reassurance from the Treasury that its budget will not be affected by the spending review. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband highlighted the importance of public investment in driving private sector contributions, stating, “Far from public investment crowding out private investment, as the old theory went, public investment can crowd in private investment.”

 

Miliband argued that British taxpayers should reap the rewards of a state-owned energy company. “We looked at all the countries in Europe that were the winners in the global race for renewable jobs. And we reached a pretty clear conclusion, which is that every real European leader in this area that was getting the economic gains from clean energy had a publicly owned national champion to some extent or another, whether it’s Orsted or Statkraft or Vattenfall or EDF,” he said, referencing leading Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and French energy firms.

 

EDF, which is constructing the UK’s first new nuclear power station in decades in Somerset and planning another in Suffolk, has the British government as a majority stakeholder in the latter project.

 

However, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank has warned that insufficient funding for GB Energy could result in unmet expectations and a failure to deliver on its objectives of expanding clean energy and reducing bills. According to an IPPR report, the company’s £8.3 billion budget could supply 5 percent of the UK’s electricity needs by the 2030s.

 

McGrail, who currently holds the role on an interim basis, emphasized the urgency of moving quickly. He did not rule out the possibility of applying for the permanent position in the future.

 

Based on a report by The Times 2025-03-22

 

 

[Gsxrnz]

I'm interested to know how they intend to defend these floating structures in times of war (considering the UK now has a toy navy), and will China supply them with the spare parts? 

[fondue zoo]

 

All I know is that when Waterworld happens, a luckier community will build their dystopian floating compound around one of these.

[impulse]

14 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Back on topic, the 1% will be wetting themselves thinking about all the "profit" they are going to make on this.

 

Especially after every major wind storm when they're replacing half of them.

 

[Peterphuket]

Nuclear power is the most clean energy, everything els is surrogate.

[BritManToo]

Pigs rooting in the green money trough!

UK electricity costs double because of these guys.

[Donga]

Amazing new technology instead of nuclear - what could go wrong 😅

[Rimmer]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed

[Thingamabob]

Ed Miliband is a lying, treacherous idiot.

[Purdey]

Why not combine wind power with wave power? If the turbines bob on waves then it seems they could generate energy 

[doctormann]

4 minutes ago, Purdey said:

Why not combine wind power with wave power? If the turbines bob on waves then it seems they could generate energy 

Wave power has been tried - <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salter's_duck> - never really took off though.  Tidal power is another option - reliable and predictable but there are only a few places where it would be viable.  Bristol Channel (UK) is one and the Bay of Fundy (Canada) is another.  I seem to recall that France has a tidal power installation somewhere.

[RayWright]

GB Energy the long running, actually incorporated in October 2024 is the brain child of the Labour Party. When launched last year it was given £8.3bn to assist the start up by the Government. Original plan was to create an energy producing company, i.e. a Nationalised company, but this was adjusted to an investment only setup. Can't upset the fat cat CEO's of the existing money for nothing energy producers.

Shares are owned by the Secretary of State for Energy, the famous bacon sandwich eating ex leader of the Labour Party. As part of Labour's steath reversal of Brexit, the chairman is German.

Ed's launch speech lauded this will create green energy for the country and lower prices. Yeah, right.

For readers of Private Eye, GBE is commonly refered to as Giant Bill's Energy.